All For One
by Burning Phoenix X-7
Summary: Family is one of the many things in life that keeps you steady on your feet. But what if family isn't the only thing that matters? Sooner or later one must choose. Lightning/Noctis pairing.
1. Chapter I: Family Resemblance

**Disclaimer: ****Okay so since this is my first time in this section, I'll make introductions. I am Burning Phoenix X-7. This is the first time that I am writing a Final Fantasy crossover fanfic. I actually thought of doing so for a while.**

**First off, this will be sort of a high school fanfiction. It will also have several crossovers with other Final Fantasy characters.**

**I would also like to give thanks to halfcrazyme from deviantart for allowing me write this fanfic based on her fanart called "Bento". You can check out her artwork on deviantart. The credits go to her and her amazing drawing! I will willingly bow down to that picture! It's great.**

**Thank you again, halfcrazyme for allowing me to do this, and I hope that you will grow to love this story. I also hope that you like the title I gave it.**

**Oh and by the way, this is a Lightning/Noctis (Lightis) pairing fanfic, along with Squinoa, Zaerith, CloTi, Vaashe (Vaan/Ashe), TiYuna (or Tuna. Hah! Tuna!), and ZiDagger (Zidane/Dagger).**

**Summary****: Family is one of the many things in life that keeps you steady on your feet. But what if family isn't the only thing that matters?**

**Based on "Bento" the artwork of "halfcrazyme".**

**All For One**

**Chapter I: Family Resemblance**

"Bodhum University. Also literally attached to Bodhum's high school. A place where both University students and high school students can get to know each other. Why can't they just call this place 'Bodhum High School University'? We're practically attending the same school building as the high school kids!" A dark-haired young man with a scar on the right side of his cheek sat on one of the benches, watching as the other students, both high school and University students alike walk by.

"Hey! Hurry up we're already late!" At that, the dark-haired student turned to see three other boys standing a few feet away. "Heh. Alright I'm comin'! Sheesh, you guys sound just like a bunch of grannies."

Aerith Gainsbrough gestured toward each area of the school as she walked beside a young silver-haired boy. "So, there's the courtyard, and that building there attached to your school is actually the other side of your school! It's also where I take my classes."

"Oh right. You're a University student, right?" The boy said. Aerith nodded. "That's right. So if you need anything or of you feel like you're in trouble, you make sure you come and see me. Okay Hope?"

Hope Estheim nodded shyly at the older teen's offer. "Thanks Miss Gainsbrough. I'll keep that in mind." "I'm only nineteen Hope. You should call me Aerith, okay?" Aerith said with a warm smile. Hope blushed and nodded again. "Thanks. I'm just glad my first day at Bodhum High School isn't gonna be as bad as I thought after all." Aerith nodded and touched Hope's shoulder. "I'm sure you will make lots of new friends here, Hope."

The sound of yelling and cursing caught the attention of Aerith and Hope, making them turn their heads in the direction the ruckus was coming from. Several students had gathered and seemed to be chanting for a fight. With growing concern, Aerith went on to get a closer look. Hope followed close behind the brunette.

When the two reached the cluster of students, Aerith gasped at the sight in front of her. A blonde spiky-haired teen stood slightly crouched while wiping blood from the side of his mouth. A tall and buff student stood in front of him laughing, his chest puffing out as he did so. "You're a wimp! Get back here so I can pummel you again!"

To everyone's surprise, as soon as the beefy student had finished his sentence, the blonde with spiked hair instantly connected his fist to his rival's face, hard.

Hope watched on nervously. "Who's that?"

Aerith kept her eyes on the fight. "The large muscled one is Bartello. He thinks that everyone is weak and skinny compared to him; he believes that he is the 'strongest man in the world'." "He sounds like a real show-off and a jerk." Hope commented.

Aerith nodded in agreement. "He is. That blonde student with spiky hair is Cloud. He's one of the University students and he's only nineteen. He always gets into fights like these but you have to understand; he usually gets into these fights because he ended up defending someone." Hope seemed intrigued by this. "You seem to know a lot about this guy." Aerith blushed. "Oh. I am actually…dating his older brother." "Oh."

Bartello was no spitting out his own blood and glared at Cloud. "You shrimp!" The large student charged at the blonde but he was lifted off the ground and then ended up face-first on the pavement. A male student with black hair stood glaring at Bartello's fallen form with his hands planted on his hips. "Next time you try to pick on someone, Beefcake, make sure you don't mess with a Fair Farron!"

Cloud glared at the new arrival. "I had him Zack!" "Oh I know Little Bro; I just took him out for you." Zack said with a grin and held out a hand to help his brother from the ground.

"That's Zack." Aerith said when Hope's eyes widened in surprise. "That's your boyfriend?" Aerith nodded shyly. As the crowd of students dispersed when Bartello's buddies lifted him off to the infirmary, Zack noticed Aerith standing beside Hope and grinned. "Hey Aerith! How are ya?"

Hope fidgeted slightly as the older student approached.

Zack smiled at Hope. "Hey there. I haven't seen you around here before. You a new student?" Hope nodded. "Hope. Hope Estheim." "Nice to meet you, short stuff! I'm Zack, and that bloody chocobo is my baby brother Cloud." Zack introduced. Cloud glared at his older sibling. "I can introduce myself on my own, Zack."

"Where are your other brothers, Zack?" Aerith asked. Zack and Cloud exchanged glances and shrugged. "Beats me. I can never tell where Scar Face always ends up. As for Mister Sunshine…no idea." Zack said.

"Who's that?" Hope asked when he noticed a red-haired girl running toward their direction and she was followed by two dark-haired boys. Aerith and Zack smiled while Cloud sighed tiredly. "Hey guys! Are you alright? I heard about the fight out here so I went fetch the boys as soon as I could." The redhead said. Her accent was a rather strange one, but Hope was sure that he recognized it.

"Ah don't worry about us, Vanille. We had it all under control; that Bartello won't be bragging about his muscles to us for a while now." Said Zack proudly. Cloud rolled his eyes.

The first boy with Vanille had dark brown hair with stormy blue eyes and stood at the height if 5'8. What was most strking about his features was a scar that marred his face. The second boy was much taller and had even darker features; his hair was slightly spiky and black, and his eyes were even darker than the first boy's. He stood at a proud 5'11.

Zack grinned at the boys. "Hey Squall, hey Noctis! Where've ya been? You just missed a great takedown of Bartello!" Zack then made ecstatic gesture to demonstrate how the scene played out. The brunette named Squall rolled his eyes while the night-black haired one named Noctis simply looked in another direction.

Cloud groaned. "Zack can your bragging wait? I need to concentrate on moving my feet without you distracting me." "You were supposed to keep Cloud away from another fight, Zack." Noctis said simply.

Zack sighed. "I know, I know. I'm sorry all right?"

"Just consider yourself lucky that she's going to be working overtime." Squall said. Zack gulped and nodded. "Don't worry, I will. Just please don't tell her anything! She's grumpy enough as it is!" Noctis smirked knowingly. Hope glanced at Aerith who simply shook her head while trying not to grin. Vanille let out little giggles and failed to hide it behind a cough.

"Uh… Listen Hope, I'm twenty-two. I'm practically the boss among these guys! Squall here is seventeen, Cloud is nineteen, and Noct is— get it? Noctis? Noct is?" Zack's brothers glared at him. Zack cleared his thorat. "Right. Anyway, Noctis is twenty-one. So I am the big boss in the family."

Vanille laughed. "That's not the way I see it!" Aerith giggled.

Zack tried to act insulted. "Aerith! My one and only Aerith! How could you laugh at my despair like that? Don't I mean anything to you?" Squall, Cloud, and Noctis all groaned in disbelief; leave it to Zack to become all dramatic just to impress his girlfriend. "I'm sorry Zack. It's just…it's true." Aerith said in between giggles.

Hope was confused.

Vanille noticed. "Zack is the eldest among his siblings. He calls himself the boss of them but that's not true." "Hey Vanille! How 'bout letting a guy keep his dignity, huh?" Zack interjected. Vanille ignored him and continued. "The truth is; Zack's younger sister is the one who keeps them in line and looks out for them. She's only one year younger than Zack but she acts very much like an adult already."

"Yeah and that's the sad part of it!" Zack said. His younger brothers shrugged.

Hope paused. "Wait. If Noctis is twenty-one, one year younger than Zack, how come he's much taller?" Zack groaned. Noctis smirked to himself. It was true, he was much taller than his crazy older brother and he had always been proud of it, albeit shyly. Zack simply shrugged in defeat. "Fine, fine. So I'm shorter compared to my little brother Noctis. So what? I'm still the eldest!"

"Whose one-year-younger-sister always manages to push around because her right hook is deadly." Squall interjected bluntly.

"You know what? Forget it! It seems that you guys, even my own girlfriend is against me! And I wouldn't be surprised if you guys actually told L what had happened here! I'm going to class!" With that, Zack turned and headed for the school building. Noctis shook his head. "He's just joking. He can only stay mad at us for five hours." "The maximum is three days." Cloud concluded.

"We better get Zack before he actually bursts into the high school students' classroom, again." Squall said finally. The three brothers then headed for the high school building where Zack was already heading into by mistake.

Once they were out of sight, Vanille giggled. "Well that was interesting, as always." "Does this happen often?" Hope asked. Aerith and Vanille nodded slowly.

"Yep", Vanille replied, "its fun everyday just to see them kid around like that. But still, Zack got me thinking. Aerith, why wasn't L in school today?" Aerith thought for a moment. "Zack told me that she would be busy at the base all day. So today is another one of her work days."

"Must be tough to be a working student." Vanille mused to herself.

"Oh no. Being a regular working student will become a little bit easier from time to time, but it's not going to become easy any time soon if a University student works as a soldier." Aerith reminded Vanille. The redhead sighed and nodded. "That's true."  
"What do you mean? Are you saying that Zack's sister is a soldier?" Hope asked, clearly surprised. The two girls nodded. "That's right. She's one of the Bodhum Security Regiment." Aerith confirmed.

"Let me tell you something about Zack's family, Hope." Vanille said. "Zack is the eldest, aged twenty-two. He's a little crazy, but I think he's the best big brother ever and he's very reliable. Cloud is nineteen; he the eldest middle child. People usually made fun of him for being a bit 'shrimpy' when he was younger and they called him a chocobo sometimes because of his hair. That is usually why he gets into fights. But he's a good guy and he's really close to his brothers. "Squall is eighteen so he's the youngest middle child. He got that scar during a fight with a violent gang member three years ago, he's often cold and brooding but he respects his family, including Zack. And he may not look like it, but Squall has a big appetite. And there's Noctis; he's one of the eldest beside Zack. He's really shy and doesn't say much, but he always listens to what his sister says even though he's only three months older than her. And he's really, really, really shy around her for some reason. "Then there's the big sister. She's always busy but even when she doesn't get to always come to school; she sometimes patrols around this area if it's her shift. And that's a good thing since she's one of the Security Regiment; she would be the one to stop the fights that happen around here."

"A while ago Zack called himself a fair Farron. What does that mean?" Hope asked. Vanille grinned. "Oh that's just his middle and last name. His full name is Zack Fair Farron." Aerith decided to step in this time. "That's right. And the boys' names are Squall Leonhart Farron, Cloud Strife Farron, and Noctis Lucis Farron."

"But Noctis's name is not entirely true. He has a much longer name." Said Vanille. Hope raised an eyebrow. "Really? What is it then?" Vanille giggled. "Okay, but I suggest that you take out a piece of paper and a pen." "Vanille, his name is not _that_ long!" Aerith protested.

Vanille waved her hand. "But still."

Just to make sure though, Hope reached into his school bag to take out a pen and a note book. "Okay Vanille, tell me." The redhead grinned. "Okay! His real full name is Noctis Lucis Caelum Farron."

The silver-haired boy paused. "Uh…Noctis Lucis Cal Farron?" "No, no, no. Noctis Lucis _Caelum_ Farron." Vanille corrected. Hope let out an "oh" and wrote down the correct name. "That is kinda long. Why's that?" Aerith looked a bit sad. "Well…Noctis had always been a mysterious case in the family. Zack told me that they just shortened his name to simply Noctis Lucis Farron for a reason. But the only one who knows more of the details is their sister. But she's not much of a talker, but then again neither is Squall or Cloud. But Noctis seems to trust their sister more. At least with secrets."

Hope thought about all he had heard and witnessed so far. "I guess going to this school is a lot more fun than I thought."

* * *

As soon as the day was over, the Farron Brothers returned home with Zack collapsing on the couch.

"Man! My prof is a real ass!" Zack moaned. Squall ignored his brother and headed into the kitchen. Cloud simply sat on an arm chair beside the couch while Noctis made his way upstairs into his room and locked the door. "What do think he does in there?" Zack wondered.

"How should I know? You know that Noctis has always been this way." Cloud said, taking out his notes and started in his homework. Zack smirked. "You should have done today's homework during one of our lunch breaks. I have, Noctis has, even Squall has, which is why I'm taking it easy."

Cloud rolled his eyes.

Just then, Squall reemerged from the kitchen with a hamburger on a plate in hand and a glass of milk in the other. As soon as he settled on another chair beside Cloud's he began munching on his burger. "Man Squall! Where do store up all that food?" Zack asked in disbelief. Squall gave Zack a look. "In my stomach. Where else?"

Cloud snickered and continued with his homework.

Up in his bedroom, Noctis sighed and dropped his bag on the floor. He sat at his desk where his computer stood and turned it on. Noctis glanced at several pictures that were taped to his desk and smiled. One picture was of him and his brothers during one of their trips to the beach; Zack had Squall and Cloud in chokeholds with each arm while Noctis stood in the background, looking embarrassed. The second picture was of Zack and Aerith sitting on a park bench smiling at the camera while Squall and Cloud were busy eating their lunch only to be caught by surprise by the camera when it caught them in the middle of chewing their food, Noctis was reading a book in the picture ignoring the camera the whole way including the light bickering between his brothers after.

The third picture was Noctis's favorite. It was a picture of his sister; she was looking at the camera with a smirk playing on her lips.

The reason she had been smirking was because Zack would not stop insisting that she should smile instead of frown like she always does. She then began smirking for some reason and Zack said that it was better than a frown. Only after he had taken her picture did Zack figure out why she had been smirking; after the camera had taken her picture, their sister rushed up at Zack and elbowed him in the stomach before lifting him up and shoving him down onto the ground on his back in a takedown.

Zack had saved the camera but he also ended up having a large bruise on his stomach and back.

Noctis smiled as he gazed at the picture of his smirking sister. Slowly, his finger traced her features but he stopped. "A sister…huh." As soon as he got his thoughts back together, Noctis turned his attention to his computer.

Suddenly the sounds of Zack laughing out loud and Squall and Cloud yelling at him caught the twenty-one-year-old's attention. Sighing, Noctis shut off his computer and headed for the living room.

When Noctis reached the living room, Zack was holding the house phone to his ears and laughing while he kept Squall and Cloud at bay by pushing at their faces with his free hand and a foot. "Hello! Hey L! How are ya? Yeah it's me, your beloved big brother Zack!" Noctis raised an eyebrow.

Cloud growled. "Zack! Give me the phone! I was the one who decided to call her in the first place!" "Give the phone back you nut job!" Squall yelled as he tried to get his face away from Zack's foot. Zack ignored his brothers. "So how was your day Sis? You sound kinda tired, why don't you—" A deep female voice could be heard on the line, cursing at Zack. "C'mon Little Sister! Don't be harsh; I just wanted to know if you're okay!"

Squall and Cloud stopped struggling when they felt the atmosphere grow serious.

Zack also released his brothers slowly as his expression became sober. "You sure you're okay? I know, I know! Hey just because we're used to it, it doesn't stop us from worrying you know. …okay just make sure you actually make it back in one piece, _properly_ arranged! Ya know what I mean, Squirt!" Zack said over the phone, becoming the responsible brother for once.

Noctis watched worriedly as Cloud and Squall leaned in toward Zack slightly to listen in on what the speaker on the other line was saying.

"Okay fine. Yeah, yeah don't worry I have it all under control. Wha- Cloud? Oh…" Zack glanced at his spiky-haired brother. "Yeah he's fine! Don't worry he didn't get into any trouble, I was there! Man that was cruel of you to say, L. Alrighty, I'll see ya soon! Hey why don't you say hello to—" Zack pulled the phone away from his ear and frowned. "She hung up on me! And without even saying hi to you guys!"

Squall and Cloud sighed and went back to watching a movie they had put on.

Noctis hesitated. "Is…she okay?" "She's fine. But she sounded so tired." Cloud answered. Squall nodded as he reached for a bag of potato chips, his eyes never leaving the television screen. Zack suddenly grinned and placed the phone down on the couch. "Don't worry Noct! She's doing fine as always, no need to get all worked up!"

"That's you, Zack. How is she? Is she hurt?" Noctis asked. Zack chuckled and reached slightly to ruffle Noctis's hair. "You worry too much, Little Brother! I know that you love her so much that you wanna kiss her, but she's doing fine."

Squall and Cloud turned to look at Zack in complete disbelief.

The dark-haired man stared at them. "What? What did I say?" "You're disgusting," was the only response he received from his younger brothers. Noctis sighed and retreated back into his bedroom.

Noctis sighed in relief and lay on his bed. He was glad to know that his sister was okay. But… "You've been out working for a week now. Where are you?" As he pondered over this aloud, Noctis looked over to his computer desk and stared at the picture of his sister's smirking face. "You always looked out for me as if I were your own. But why can't I be your own just for you?"

Noctis groaned at himself before he got up to turn off the lights in his room and went to sleep.

* * *

**Okay! There's the first chapter of the story!**

**I hope I got the characters' personalities okay. Since this was the first chapter, I thought I should introduce the Farrons through Hope's first time in school with the help of Aerith and Vanille.**

**Oh and if you're all wondering where Lightning is, don't worry. She'll come around. I noticed how in most of the flashbacks in the game Lightning is always off somewhere and we don't see her much unless it's her flashback.**

**Halfcrazyme, if you're reading this, I hope I did okay for the first chapter. If you have any suggestions, I will gladly consider it. Thank you once again for allowing me to make a fanfic based on your art.**

**And for those of you Lightis fans like me, you will learn Noctis's side of the story soon and know why he's a Farron brother.**

**Until Then… **


	2. Chapter II: Lightning Flash

**Disclaimer: ****I'm back once again! I hope you all liked that last chapter I put up. I also hope that I will live up the expectations of this story.**

**Anyway, once again, welcome to the world of "All For One". Sit back and enjoy the story and don't worry, there is no rushing between the characters' relationships. Oh and just so you know, this story is not really an incest story. You'll see what I mean.**

**Summary: ****Family is one of the many things in life that keeps you steady on your feet. But what if family isn't the only thing that matters?**

**Based on "Bento" the artwork of "halfcrazyme".**

**All For One**

**Chapter II: Lightning Flash**

Noctis had his head lowered the whole day at school.

Both Squall and Cloud would occasionally glance at him worriedly while Zack would be his usual self with Aerith and Vanille would tell Hope stories. It seemed that the pig-tailed redhead had grown fond of Hope and the two seem to follow each other around now, although Vanille is mostly the one who pulls Hope around so he wouldn't have to be so shy.

Noctis felt like cutting class but that would make his brothers wonder. At any rate, he had no idea why he was feeling so gloomy in the first place. _"I probably lack sleep." _He thought to himself. Now as Noctis and his brothers made their way out to the schoolyard with Vanille, Hope, and Aerith tagging along, his mind began to drift.

Zack laughed at his own joke as they walked until he turned his head and he ended up bumping into someone.

"Hey! Are you boys the Farron Brothers?" A loud voice yelled at them. Zack rubbed his nose and looked at the guy he had bumped into. The student was big and had short silver hair on the top if his head. "You're Loz Jenova!" Zack stated. Squall and Cloud rolled their eyes. "Of course it is."

Noctis watched as Loz looked over his shoulder. "Hey! I found 'em!" Soon two more silver-haired students approached to stand beside Loz. "Great job Loz." A much feminine version of Loz said as he approached.

"Kadaj Jenova and his rat-pack Loz and Yazoo." Zack said, not the least bit fazed. Squall, Cloud, and Noctis tensed and took small ready stances. The three silver-haired brothers laughed. "But of course! After all, we are friends of Bartello and he tells us that you boys kept bothering him until it got physical." Kadaj said. Cloud growled angrily. "That's not how that happened."

"Then why don't you tell us, Farron-dee? Or does Farron-dum have to look out for you again?" Yazoo taunted, making his brothers laugh.

Cloud's glare and tone was deadly.

"Your friend Bartello was picking on a random little kid he saw walking by the school grounds! The kid was only six!" Kadaj faked a yawn. "So? Who cares about some little booger that walks by?" Squall joined his brother. "_You_ should! You can cause a lot of trouble harassing little boys!"

The Jenova Brothers exchanged bored looks before they seem to come to a decision.

Suddenly, the three went charging at the Farron Borthers. Fists flew and kicks and punches were exchanged. Loz's fist landed a blow to Squall's face but was then met with a kick to the stomach by Cloud. Zack and Kadaj exchanged blow by blows until Noctis ran up behind the leader of the three and punched the back of his head.

Vanille, Aerith, and Hope could only watch as the brothers fought on.

Soon both Jenova and Farron brothers were partially bruised with bleeding lips. Loz snarled at his rivals and lunged at them once again. But once he moved, a quick blur blew past and Loz took an elbow right in the face then in the stomach before he was knocked out. Yazoo then found himself being kneed in the crotch then elbowed in the back once he was on his knees in pain.

Lastly, Kadaj was rushed at in a blur of red and white and was then kneed in the chin. The silver-haired student stumbled then collapsed on the pavement.

The Farron Brothers and their companions watched in shocked as the Jenova Brothers went down one by one. Finally, when all three were down, a figure stood with their back facing the Farrons and company. Zack's eyes widened out of their sockets. "Sis!"

Hope stared at Zack in surprise.

Squall, Cloud, and Noctis tensed slightly and the female figure turned around. She had long, light strawberry-blonde hair that was slung over her left shoulder and blue eyes. Her garments consisted of a light brown turtleneck shirt that seemed to stop midway along with a necklace with a somewhat rectangular black-and-silver lightning bolt-shaped pendant underneath a white sleeveless uniform of some sort. On her left shoulder was a green metal plate with two glowing yellow stripes, a long flowing red cape was attached to her back on the left side, and a brown belt around her waist. She also wore two blue leather gloves with gold plates over the knuckles and a long black leather sleeve over her left arm that begins from her bicep, and a brown mini-skirt with a slightly unnoticeable skin-tight black short-shorts underneath and stood at a proud height of 5'10.

The female figure was wrapped in bandages. She had bandages around her right arm, on her left leg that was revealed above her knee-length leather boots; there was also a bandage around her head. The wrappings were loose and looked like they were about to unravel if she moved any more than she should, she must have dressed whatever injuries she had in a hurry.

Noctis could feel his face heat up with a blush.

Vanille whispered to Hope. "That's her. That's Zack's younger sister." Hope looked at the redhead then at Aerith. The older teen nodded. Hope was completely taken aback. "That's her? Zack's soldier sister?" Vanille giggled at Hope's comment. "Yep. That's her, Lightning Farron."

A large grin suddenly appeared on Zack's face and he ran for his younger sister with arms outstretched. "Lightning!" Squall and Cloud rolled their eyes at Zack's back and then followed behind him slowly.

The strawberry-blonde watched as her brother ran toward her, as soon as Zack was close enough Lightning pulled her right fist back and punched him.

Zack held his cheek and stared at his sister. "Light? What was that for?"

Lightning glared her older brother and crossed her arms. "I told you to keep yourself and the guys out of trouble _and_ fights! And what do I see while passing by the school grounds for one last time today for patrol sake even though I had been clocked out for the day? You guys brawling with the Jenovas!"

"C'mon Sis it wasn't my fault! They started it! We never did anything and they just ran right at us for nothing. Well…not exactly nothing. I sorta beat up their buddy Bartello yesterday." Zack said sheepishly. Lightning glared at Zack, making him cringe. "I'm sorry all right? I did look out for the guys while you were away Sis. So be thankful, geez!"

"Welcome back Lightning." Squall said as he and Cloud approached their sister. Lightning sighed tiredly and ruffled each of her younger brothers' hair.

Vanille leaned in to whisper to Hope. "Lightning's twenty-one, three months younger than Noctis, one year younger than Zack. She looks after her brothers all the time. Lightning also works for the Guardian Corps. So she's busy most of the time, and she's pretty tall too." That was something that Hope had no trouble believing.

Noctis was the last to greet the young soldier when Cloud and Squall were done reporting how everything went with them. Lightning and Noctis's eyes then connected, making the dark-haired Farron blush; he had always been so shy around Lightning but he could not help it. Not when she had grown to be strong, independent, cunning, and beautiful. And especially not when…

Noctis felt his thoughts drift off when he felt Lightning wrap her arms around him. His blush deepened.

"Glad to see you're okay." Lightning said with a tired yet relieved sigh. Noctis pulled away from her and smirked. He was 5'11 and she was 5'10, Lightning was only an inch shorter than he was which was fine with Noctis since it gave him the chance to always look at her straight in the eyes; the eyes he had always admired since the night he awoke and saw them for the first time. "Don't worry Lightning; Zack hasn't managed to kill me." Lightning chuckled ever-so slightly that Noctis was sure he could have imagined it.

Lightning pulled away completely and winced. Her bandages were very loosely wrapped and several bloodstains could be seen through the wrappings. Noctis noticed the crimson stains and his eyes narrowed. "It's all right, just little scratches." Lightning assured him when she noticed his eyes were narrowing.

Zack took a glimpse at his sister's bandages. "That does not look like little scratches."

Vanille and Aerith finally decided to step in with Vanille pulling Hope along. "Hello Lightning. Are you finally taking the day off?" Aerith asked. Lightning crossed her arms. "My shift just ended this morning and my Lieutenant says I should take the next whole week off." "Good! Now you can finally rest and unwind!" Vanille chirped.  
Lightning raised an eyebrow at Hope when she noticed that he was holding hands with Vanille. "I didn't know you had a boyfriend now, Vanille. How long was I away?" Hope blushed and tried to let go of Vanille's hand but she refused to let go of him. "Oh no, this is Hope. He's a new high school student here; Aerith and I have been showing him around."

Hope nodded quickly and hoped that the young soldier would believe Vanille. He did not want to be the next one to be taken down onto the pavement. Vanille noticed and smiled at Hope before whispering so that only Hope would hear, "Don't worry, Lightning doesn't just beat people up for no reason."

Lightning only nodded tiredly. "Okay."

Cloud noticed his older sister's exhaustion was getting the best of her. "We better get you home, before you collapse. School's done for today anyway." The Farron Brothers nodded. "Okay then. We'll just have to go out for lunch some other time." Vanille said.

Cloud nodded as he and his brothers headed for home.

During the walk Noctis took noticed how Lightning's leg injury was making her limp. "Are you sure you can walk?" Lightning scowled at him. "Of course I can. It's just a little scrape on the knee." "That kind of limp doesn't make it seem like a scrape." Noctis stated. Lightning gave him a glare and Noctis returned it. "Maybe you two should wait until we're home before you start another one of your glaring competitions." Cloud said when he glanced over his shoulder to see his older brother and sister exchanging heated looks.

After the Farrons had entered the house, Zack immediately threw himself onto the couch while Squall and Cloud entered the kitchen to prepare a snack for Lightning, both smacking Zack in the head as the passed by him.

Lightning and Noctis exchanged glares upstairs once again before they retreated into their own rooms.

Lightning sighed in relief as she sat down on her bed. It felt nice to be back at home in her own room instead of sometimes having to share a room with one of her colleagues at work, especially if one of them snores as loud as a behemoth or farts in their sleep when it was Lightning's turn to take the bottom bunk.

The strawberry-blonde looked at her bandaged wounds and sighed. She had been in a hurry with getting back from work that she barely had the time to at least cover her wounds. She had been called for duty and had been on duty for a whole week. Fortunately she had taken extra precautions before she left her brothers; she knew that Zack and the boys were all strong and as capable as she was but Lightning had always been the one who placed all the responsibilities on her shoulders ever since she was younger.

Their mother had always said that Lightning had always acted like an adult even in her younger days, and their father would sometimes tease Zack by telling him that Lightning was more of a leader than he was. But Zack was never bothered by the fact. He rather enjoyed watching his younger sister act like a leader and then grow up to become one.

Lightning shook her head and proceeded with unbuckling the belt that held her uniform together. She sighed painfully when the white soldier uniform slid off her body with both the red cape and green metal plate attached, leaving her with only her brown turtleneck. The brown turtleneck covered her only midway while leaving her abdomen bare. The young soldier stared at another loosely dressed wound on her stomach; blood stained the white dressings.

It was probably a good time to change the bandages.

Lightning took off her gloves and groaned when she uncovered another dressed wound on her left hand. How was she going to keep all these injuries out of her brothers' sights? A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and she tensed. "Lightning? It's Noctis." Well that's a relief, she thought sarcastically.

"Come in." She allowed. Hesitantly, Noctis entered Lightning's room. He carried medical supplies in his right arm and was looking at her rather expectantly. Lightning sighed; she should have known that out of all her brothers, Noctis would always be the one to come see her first and bring medical supplies along with him. "Don't even try to get me to sit down while you wrap me up like a dead corpse." Lightning threatened.

Noctis only sighed and closed the door behind him.

Lightning watched as he sat on her bed and gestured for her to sit down. She glared at him but Noctis only stared back blankly, completely unfazed by her deadly glare. Finally Lightning sighed in defeat and sat down on her bed beside Noctis.

The dark-haired young man began unwrapping the bandages on her arm, albeit slowly and shyly, and went on with disinfecting the wound. Lightning bit back a pained hiss when the wet cotton swab touched the tender bleeding spot on her arm. "What happened to you?" Noctis asked finally when he finished dressing her arm wound and proceeded to care for the wound on her hand. Lightning hesitated. "There was an outbreak of monster attacks in Bodhum. They sent the Guardian Corps. to handle most of them. I was one of those in the front line at the plaza. I managed to get myself scratched in a few places but nothing serious." Noctis listened as he now tended to the large gash on Lightning's leg.

"Once all the lesser monsters had been wiped out, a King Behemoth pounced. Most of us managed to get away with bad injuries but we were alive, others weren't so lucky though." Lightning paused then growled when a bad sting touched her head. She hadn't realized that Noctis has now reached the wound on her head.

Noctis carefully dabbed at the slash on the side of Lightning's head with as much gentleness as he could muster. Once the wound had been cleaned, he started working on dressing the slash wound. Lightning watched as he slowly circled her head with bandages a few times until the dressing was finally secured. "Several us were forced to retreat for a while which resulted in the King Behemoth claiming the plaza as its territory and mating grounds." Noctis paused and stared at Lightning in shock. "What?"

"You heard me. By the time I was allowed back in the field, the behemoth had completely taken over the plaza and it had already invited several other behemoths to join it." Lightning said. "So none of us had any choice but to charge in and distract the monsters while the rest of the team got out the big guns. I managed to get myself nicked at here and there. Luckily, the war-mechs arrived in time and we were able to get rid of every one of the behemoths."

Noctis nodded then paused when he realized that he had one more injury to dress; on Lightning's stomach. He felt his face heat up like Ifrit's Hell Fire.

Lightning raised an eyebrow at him. She knew that Noctis had always been shy, but what was he freezing over now? She noticed his stare and followed it down to the wound on her stomach. "What? It doesn't look that bad." Noctis jumped slightly and exhaled deeply. "Right. Sorry."

He then hesitantly reached for the loose, blood-stained wrappings at her stomach almost freezing each time his hand even barely brushed against Lightning's bare stomach.

Lightning sighed. "Never mind, I can clean this one up myself. Thanks Noctis, for being there." Noctis shook his head. "It's the least I could do. You were the one who had always been there; I mean you looked after me as if I were really…" He paused and looked away. He could not tell her or even hint at what he was trying to say; Lightning was his sister, she was someone who should not have meant to be his sister.

"I'll be in my room if you need." Noctis said finally and left for his own room.

Lightning stared at the door for a few minutes before she started tending to the large claw marks on her stomach. It stung when she dabbed at the wound with a cotton swab that she soaked with disinfectant.

When she had the wound cleaned and dressed, Lightning let out a long breath and lay back onto her mattress. It felt great to finally be home again and rest, her days spent at work for the whole week had drained her but now was the time for her to regain her strength.

"Zack you bastard!" Lightning groaned; it seems that she had hoped too soon.

Quickly leaping onto her feet, Lightning hissed in pain when the slashes and cuts protested, and headed downstairs for the living room. Sure enough, Zack was standing on the couch and grinning like a moron. Squall and Cloud were glaring at him over a tray of spilled milk and sandwiches.

"What was that for Zack?" Squall yelled. Cloud began picking up the tray and went into the kitchen to get a rug to clean up the milk.

"Don't look so bad you two! I was just proving that you guys are as jumpy as two chocobos, and I was right!" Zack laughed. Cloud sighed in frustration when he returned from the kitchen and handed Squall the rug. "That snack was for Lightning!" Zack paused. "Y-you're kidding, right?" Squall shook his head as he began wiping at the spilled milk. "Oh man! Why didn't you guys say so?"

"What's going on here?" The three brothers froze and noticed Lightning standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Nothing, nothing!" Zack said. Squall and Cloud rolled their eyes and shrugged. Lightning only glared at the three warningly and turned back up the stairs. "Oh and Zack, make sure you clean up that mess you made."

Squall and Cloud smirked smugly when Zack's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Told you so." Cloud said once Lightning had made her way upstairs. Zack groaned and took the rug from Squall and started laboring over the wasted snack while the younger brothers switched on the television.

"Great, just when you think it was great that your sister's back at home." Zack grumbled to himself as he collected pieces of baloney and wiped mayonnaise off the floor.

In his room, Noctis couldn't help but smirk when he heard Lightning's feet stomping all the way downstairs to keep Zack from performing any more antics on his younger brothers before she headed back up the stairs.

Noctis turned his attention back to his computer but not before glancing at Lightning's picture. He could never resist when it came to Lightning, but his shyness always manages to get in his way. He had lived as a Farron for a long while now but that did not stop him from wanting to know his sister Lightning even more.

"Lightning you have no idea how hard being your brother is becoming to me." Noctis said to the picture. "I can't love you properly anymore, Sis. I was never meant to be one of you, but you, Squall, Zack, and Cloud had to look out for me." Noctis massaged his temples. "Why now? Why did you have to make this life more complicated than it already is?" A hand on his shoulder made Noctis jump and turn his head.

Lightning stood behind him, looking rather apologetic. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to complicate things. I know I'm not always around but…" "Lightning, how long have you been behind me?" Noctis asked, trying to hide how red his face was becoming. Lightning looked ashamed. "You said that you were never meant to be one of us, that being a brother in this family was becoming hard. I'm sorry. I tried my best."

Mentally Noctis sighed in relief; she hadn't understood what he had meant by his words after all. He covered Lightning's hand on his shoulder with his own. "Don't be sorry, Lightning. I just find it so frustrating sometimes. Being a part of this family but at the same time, I know that I'm not."

Lightning suddenly bent down over Noctis and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Noctis felt his heart soften; Lightning always did try her best to be the responsible one in the family. Despite Zack being the eldest and a male sibling, Lightning had always been the one to take over and correct his blunders. Zack was more easy-going while Lightning had always been obedient and firm.

Noctis slowly lifted his arms to return Lightning's embrace only to have her pull away at that very moment.

Lightning ruffled his hair slightly. "I tried my best, but I keep forgetting that you guys are still with me. And I haven't been much of a sister, it's no wonder that—" Noctis nodded in understanding when she suddenly paused. "It was not your fault, Light. Any one of us could have also made that decision." "But that just proves that I'm breaking my promise to our mother. I swore on her grave that I would look out for everyone, including Zack." Lightning said.

"You're always being too hard on yourself, Lightning. You don't _have_ to be the one to look out for the whole family, or what's left of it. They can manage on their own and so can you. Think for yourself once in a while, I mean try to keep yourself safe instead of just us." Noctis said.

Lightning was silent for a long time. "Noctis…you also said that you were never meant to be one of us. That's not true; you are one of us, no matter what happens or what you decide. You will always be my older brother by three months."

Noctis felt his heart contract at her words. _"Your brother… Is that all I will ever be? How can I just stay as your brother when I fear that one day you will also make that same decision to leave with someone you care about, someone who isn't me."_

"Noctis." Lightning said after a while. Noctis looked at her. "Yeah?" "Promise me that you won't tell anyone." Noctis smirked in understanding. "I won't. I promise." Lightning nodded in approval, back to her usual self again. "Good. And keep that in mind or I will kill you."

Noctis laughed. _"I keep my promises, Lightning. As well as my promise to myself that I will always look out for you. And your brothers. You may think that lightning can only destroy and not protect, but I know that even though lightning flashes bright then fades, it will always be embraced by the night sky. After all, when is there any other time that lightning flashes in the sky?" _

* * *

**So how was this chapter? I thought it was pretty much okay so far.**

**I also enjoyed making Lightning's grand entrance; kicking someone's butt while coming on stage! That is so Lightning.**

**I hope I'm doing okay so far with this story. What did you think about those last lines there?**

**So what do you think Noctis was talking about to himself during his conversation with Lightning? Did something happen in the past or is he just an overprotective brother with a complex over his sister? **

**Intrigued? Then stay tuned to find out more!**

**Until Then…**


	3. Chapter III: Family Time

**Disclaimer: ****Here I am with the third chapter. I really hope you are all enjoying the story so far because I'm having fun writing it. Okay so the previous chapter just circles around Lightning's returning home from work and Noctis facing some sort of dilemma about being a Farron. So please read this disclaimer first!**

**This chapter will be a little more lighthearted and more focused on the Farron siblings' everyday life during the weekends as well as their more fun-loving interactions toward each other and Lightning being…herself. But first this story is gonna start with a little flashback session before the fun really begins.**

**There would also be some hints to what Noctis's dilemma is in this chapter, see if you can understand them and figure out where it's going. **

**Anyway enjoy reading this fanfiction and tell me what you think, I would gladly listen to your comments and suggestions. More characters will appear in this story soon so don't worry, you'll be seeing more of the other Final Fantasy characters after a while.**

**Okay, now let me explain something first in case there might be some confusion or misunderstanding. First, the place the Farrons live in is Lightning's house in the game.**

**Lightning is the eldest sister and although Zack is the eldest brother and the all-in-all oldest of his siblings, Lightning is the one who decides to take charge of looking after everyone after their parents had died. So now she thinks that everything that happens would be based on how she looks out for her family and feels that she should be the one to carry the weight of failure on her shoulders if anything bad has happened among the family.**

**Squall and Cloud are the two middle brothers who stick together most of the time and gang up on Zack whenever they can. They are very supportive of Lightning and try their best to make sure she doesn't get any more stressed out than she already is. Squall broods for most of the time and is anti-social but he does worry about how his family had become sort of broken since their parents' death only to be barely held together by Lightning, and Cloud is always thinking about ways to help Lightning (who he shares uncanny similarities with) get through tough times though he sometimes feels emotional stress due to his parents' deaths.**

**Zack is mostly laid-back and cracks jokes a lot but he is easily provoked if one of his family members, especially his one-year-younger sister Lightning who has worked so hard to make their lives work, is in any sort of trouble or danger. Deep down Zack is also a very caring and loving older brother who just takes things easy to lighten up the tension that has grown between him and his siblings, so far it has helped.**

**Noctis is the big mystery of the Farron family. He seems to be facing a sort of dilemma concerning Lightning herself and is always willing to be first one to come to her aid, only to freeze up due to his shyness which he covers up with a cool and calm exterior. Not much is known about Noctis yet to others. Noctis shares all of his deepest secrets with Lightning and feels the need to be by her side all times. Of course he is unable to do so as of yet. There is, however, a secret about Noctis that only the Farrons know about.**

**Okay, now that that is done, on with the story!**

**Summary: ****Family is one of the many things in life that keeps you steady on your feet. But what if family isn't the only thing that matters?**

**Based on "Bento" the artwork of "halfcrazyme".**

**All For One**

**Chapter III: Family Time**

Lightning awoke to the sunlight hitting her face that early morning.

The wounds all over her body ached when she stirred and turned over in bed. Lightning sat up in bed against the headboard and pulled down the covers to look at the wrappings on her stomach. She felt much better now since last night but her body was still sore from all the monsters attacks she had endured for a week at work.

Lightning sighed and got up to do some pushups, wincing in pain the whole time.

It started like this every morning, Lightning would wake up early and do some pushups, sit ups and practice some of her combat maneuvers, whether she was injured or not, though most of the time she resisted the urge practice with her Blaze Edge gunblade in the house. Glancing at the gunblade, Lightning resisted the urge to smirk and grab the weapon to practice a few swings or two.

After her morning exercises, the strawberry-blonde grabbed a towel from the drawer and went to take a shower.

She carefully unwrapped the bandages from her wounds and noticed how well they were healing since last night. Now as Lightning stepped into the shower and allowed the warm water to hit her body, it seemed to relax the soreness caused by the wounds and the tenseness of her body. Working as one of the Guardian Corps. was tiring work but it felt rather fulfilling and the pay was good, and on the plus side, it gave Lightning satisfaction when she needed to unwind and take her stress out on monsters and fugitives on the run.

Maybe she did need to relax a little bit more, like her brothers and friends always told her.

Still, Lightning could not help but sigh at the thought. She was never the type to relax or have fun like everyone else; except maybe when she was on duty. The rush and the adrenaline she felt when pursuing someone at fault or when she was battling monsters was more than enough excitement for her.

As Lightning stepped out of her shower, grabbing a towel to dry her wet hair and a larger towel to wrap around her body, she resisted the urge to growl in pain when her wounds reacted again. She sat on her bed and looked over at her nightstand to see some bandages and medicine sitting there. Lightning smiled. Noctis must have entered her room to make sure she changed her bandages or he must have told either Cloud or Squall to do it. Lightning started with the wounds on her head, arm, and leg before lastly tending to her stomach wound.

After wrapping up the cuts and slashes, she got up to get dressed.

Downstairs Squall busied himself with cooking breakfast while Cloud prepared the table. Squall checked the wall clock and returned to his cooking. Right on cue, Zack came rushing down the stairs and jumped over the last three steps. "Morning little bros!"

The duo ignored him and went on as if no one had spoken.

Zack sighed. "All right. Fine, be that way. I'm just gonna watch T.V. while you two play house." Cloud then grabbed his brother's shirt and dragged him back. "You are going to make the salad." Zack gave his spiky-haired brother a look. "What? Why me?" "Because Noctis did it last time so it's your turn now." Cloud replied.

Squall nonchalantly began pouring pancake batter into a frying pan, ignoring Zack's attempts as breaking him with a puppy face.

The eldest Farron groaned in defeat. "Fine!" As Zack stared his work on the salad, light footsteps could be heard from upstairs. "Look who decided to come down herself instead of sleeping off the pain and stress." Zack said. Squall and Cloud paused and watched as Lightning descended the stairs. "You were supposed to be too tired to come down." Cloud stated simply. Squall turned back to his cooking of the pancakes.

Lightning rolled her eyes. "I'm not tired, so don't think I can't go down to get breakfast myself."

"Suit yourself Sis." Said Zack as he began tossing the salad. "Where's Noctis?" Lightning asked when she noticed that someone was missing. Squall looked over his shoulder at his sister. "Still asleep I bet. He hasn't come down at all."

Nodding, Lightning went back up the stairs and headed for Noctis's room.

She knocked the door slowly before entering quietly and found Noctis still asleep. The rose-haired woman sighed and began nudging him. "Noctis. Wake up, it's time for breakfast." When he didn't stir, Lightning glared at him. "Wake up you bum! Don't make me beat you up until you move!" Noctis groaned sleepily. "Lightning." "Yeah it's me. Wake up already."

Noctis sighed. "You were supposed to stay in bed with wounds like yours." Lightning rolled her eyes at him. "That's the second time someone has told me that." "Good. I hope you keep their advices in mind." Groaned Noctis as he turned in bed so that his back was facing Lightning.

She glowered at his back then punched him there. Noctis grunted but did not budge.

"All right that's it! Get up Noctis!" Lightning grabbed his blankets and pulled them off before she snagged the back of Noctis's shirt and started dragging him out of bed. Noctis sighed and turned himself around to lie on his back, causing Lightning to fall on his stomach. She hissed painfully at the impact on her wounds.

"That is why you should not be moving around so much." Noctis said as he slowly sat up with Lightning groaning in pain on his stomach. Lightning turned her head to glare at her brother and punched him in the abdomen. He grunted painfully and simply ruffled her hair in response.

Lightning huffed in slight annoyance; out of all her brothers, Noctis was the only one who ever managed to match her in strength and endurance of pain perfectly while the rest of her brothers could endure pain halfway.

"Lightning." She looked at him again. "What?"

"Get off me please." Noctis said, blushing slightly when he remembered what position he was in. Lightning rolled her eye at his shyness. "You were the one who put me in this position in the first place, don't go all red on me now!" Noctis nodded slowly. "Okay."

Lightning got up slowly to avoid getting another reaction from her wounds, allowing Noctis to sit up and get out of bed.

When the two finally got downstairs and entered the kitchen, they found Squall drinking a glass of milk while Zack and Cloud were starting on their pancakes. Lightning and Noctis sat on their respective place at the table and the Farrons started eating breakfast.

"So Light, how's Amodar doing?" Zack asked.  
Lightning glanced at Zack over her plate of sunny-side up eggs and bacon. "He's fine." "Okay…what about the guys at work?" Zack asked again, his mouth full of pancakes this time. Cloud had to lean away slightly to avoid getting pancake splatter on his face. Lightning sighed and poked at her bacon. "They're fine. Some of them snore as loud as a behemoth, and some of them have extreme gas problems.

Squall snickered into his glass of milk and Noctis smirked.

"I get the feeling that you're speaking from experience…?" Zack said. Lightning gave her older brother a look. "Wouldn't you want to know?" "Better to keep your nose away from Guardian Corps. sleeping quarters, Zack. It sounds as bad as a marlboro's bad breath attack." Cloud commented, making Lightning smirk. "True." "So I take it your own bed make up for all that trouble you've been through." Squall said. Lightning nodded and took a bite of one of her eggs. "What did I miss at school?" "Nothing big, only pretty much what you had seen yesterday. Vanille's got a new friend, name's Hope and he's fourteen." Zack answered.

Noctis stole a glance at Lightning and noticed how she hadn't touched her food as much. Usually, Lightning would make sure that she had enough proteins inside her body so she would be able to keep herself moving all day but this morning she seemed rather distant. "Lightning?" The strawberry-blonde looked at him. Noctis blushed when her eyes looked right at him. "What?" The dark-haired man shook his head. "Are you…okay? Maybe you need to get some more sleep."

Zack, Cloud, and Squall kept silent and watched the exchange.

"No I'm fine. Just thinking about something." Lightning said, poking at her food again. Noctis glanced down at Lightning's hand on the table and resisted the urge to lift up his own hand on the table and touch hers comfortingly.

Zack seemed to detect the stress in the room and he suddenly stood up. "Well I'm done with my share of the food! I say let's go out and see what Aerith and the others are up to!" Squall and Cloud did not protest, instead they got up from the table as well and brought their dishes to the sink. Zack then went back to grab Noctis and Lightning's plates from the table as well.

Both Lightning and Noctis watched as their siblings washed the dishes before heading to the other room. Lightning shook her head and stood from the table. "Whatever."

Noctis stood as well and watched as Lightning leave the kitchen and head for her room. He thought privacy may be a good idea at the moment, but as soon as he got one foot on the first step of the stairs, Zack caught him in a headlock. "Hey Little Brother! C'mon and get yourself dressed 'cause we're goin' out today!" Noctis pulled away from his brother's grip. "I thought you were kidding."

"He wasn't." Squall stated seriously. Cloud nodded once.

Noctis rolled his eyes and headed upstairs. "Fine." Zack grinned. "Yes!" The middle brothers exchanged looks and sighed before they too headed upstairs to get dressed.

Lightning was busy punching the air when Cloud knocked on her door three minutes later. His sister was at her usual routine of warming herself up. "Lightning. We're going out. You should come with us." "And why would I do that?" Lightning said in-between pants. Cloud shrugged. "Zack does have a point: you need to relax. I know we all do."

Lightning stopped punching the air and sighed. "Fine. Just give me a while to get ready."

Cloud nodded and closed the door as he left her alone. The blonde sighed as he went down to their living room. He always worried about his sister, knowing that she always had not time to do things for herself even if her Lieutenant was a hearty man who tells her to relax, she never did.

Cloud remembered the day their mother passed away; she was on her deathbed talking to them, saying that they needed to look out for each other. Cloud had been thirteen, Squall was twelve, Lightning was fifteen, and Zack was sixteen. Their mother made Zack promise to look after them but Lightning protested saying that they would all be better off if she were the one taking care of the family. Just like that, young Lightning volunteered.

However, their mother only smiled and said that Lightning was to _help_ Zack look after the family. But Cloud had watched as his older sister mentally swore to herself that _she _would be the one to look out for everyone. Zack had accepted the duty from their dying mother, deciding to use humor and good nature to bring them up as they grew older, but Lightning had been different.

After the rainy funeral, Lightning had changed both mentally, emotionally, name-wise, and then physically.

After they had returned home from the funeral, soaked to the bone, Lightning had everyone sit on the couch while she made hot chocolate. She was stopped from doing so by another younger sibling; the one who their mother said could cook the best. Lightning wanted to protest but then she found herself sitting on the couch in-between Zack, and Cloud and Squall.

When Lightning turned seventeen, she enlisted to the Guardian Corps. so that they would be able to make a living. At first, tensions were always high and the Farron siblings would always argue with Lightning over her decision. But she was as stubborn as ever, she had grown distant, cold, and uptight. But on the bright side, Lightning had also grown to be strong, independent, skillful, cunning, and determined. Still, Cloud missed the softer, compassionate side of his sister.

Squall had grown up to become a lone wolf while Cloud would end up getting into fights with other kids and come home bruised. Lightning would always be the one to lecture and scold him since she did not trust Zack's method of being sweet-natured. But she would also be the one to defend him from enemies whenever she caught hooligans surrounding him while she was on duty.

Zack stayed very much the same; immature and fun but he also did become serious about life since the death of their parents. However, it was always hidden beneath his sweet and fun nature.

Lightning rarely had time to spend with the family and have fun ever since she became a soldier, and that was when Cloud realized that his scrapes and bruises from street fist fights were nothing compared to what his sister was enduring. Lightning would most of the time return home exhausted and covered in bloody wounds or some broken bones. But despite this, she refused to remain still for even at least a day for her wounds to heal. It then became a routine for them to see Lightning coming home with many injuries or scars on her body.

Then finally, at the age of nineteen, Lightning came home one night once again injured while carrying a rather new and strange object. Cloud and his brothers had asked what it was but Lightning simply brushed their questions off; she had seemed slightly irritated, tired, yet determined. It was during the next day when the Farrons finally had the time to take a break along with Lightning that they learned what the mystery object was.

Amodar, Lightning's superior had managed to bump into them during their walk on the beach. He had explained rather excitedly about how hard-working Lightning was in her work and that she had been promoted to Sergeant.

That had been a bombshell, but a pleasant one nonetheless. Zack congratulated her but Lightning only responded with a glare. It seemed that she had been hiding all of her achievements from the family, brushing it off as nothing special. Amodar then went on explaining what Lightning's mystery object was; it was a Blaze Edge gunblade. The weapon that was given to only the very best, gifted, and strongest soldiers; if one from the military were to see the weapon, the soldier holding it would instantly be known as a top-ranking fighter.

Lightning did not find this news exciting, she had simply replied by saying it could help pay for their needs. Amodar had agreed with her but Cloud could tell that the man found Lightning a real treasure of the Guardian Corps. and a very special person with a talent. Zack then joked with Amodar about how he always thought that Lightning was going to make them lose a lot of medical supplies.

Lightning had become cold while growing up, but Cloud knew that his sister's much more compassionate side was hidden under that icy-cold electrical armor of Lightning.

Nonetheless, Cloud could not help but worry about his older sister when it came down to her health, her well-being, and most of all, her happiness. Happy. Cloud could not remember that last time that word applied to his sister.

As Cloud sat on the couch beside Squall, he sighed.

Squall noticed and looked at his brother. "What's wrong?" "Lightning," was all that Cloud had to say. Squall nodded in understanding and thought back to that one time Lightning returned home with bullets in her leg; Zack had practically drag a doctor all the way from the hospital to their place just to get the bullets out of Lightning's body since she refused to move at all.

It was painful but Lightning endured it like every pain she had been though. Squall could not say much as he watched his older sister get herself patched up. Zack tried to cheer them up but the tensions and worry was just too much for both Squall and Cloud to bear. Lightning on the other hand acted as if nothing but a paper cut had happened.

Ever since the death of both their mother and father, Squall had developed a defense mechanism of staying alone from everybody around him, but he still could not bear to stay away from his remaining family members and see them drift apart, so he had stayed close to them and trusted them, but them alone.

Just then, Zack came rushing down the stairs with Lightning and Noctis behind him. "All right people! Let's go out and have fun! C'mon at least smile! You too, Light!"

Lightning rolled her eyes and her face stayed the same neutral expression. Noctis ruffled her hair affectionately then nudged her towards the door. Zack's head drooped at the two other elder siblings' response and sighed. "Okay… Well let's go! Don't wanna miss a good time out in the streets of Bodhum do we?" Squall and Cloud shrugged and headed out the door as well, leaving Zack to stand in the living room. "Heh, all right I get the picture. I wouldn't want to miss the day either."

* * *

Vanille giggled as Hope wiped the ice cream of the side of his mouth. "You're a sloppy ice cream eater you know that?" Vanille joked. Hope gave her a playful glare. "Oh yeah? The why don't you try it and show me how it's done." He challenged.

Vanille lifted her own ice cream cone to her mouth. "I will! Watch carefully, Hope. This is how you eat ice cream. The redhead began licking her ice cream and taking a bite or two form the cold sweet treat before she lowered it from her mouth. "There you see?"

Hope crossed his arms and smirked. "Oh yeah, I see it now. The Great Vanille had shown me how to eat ice cream 'neatly'." Hope tapped his chin as he spoke.

Vanille pouted and touched her chin; sure enough there were traces of melted ice cream on it. "Darn it! It's not usually like this though!" "I believe you, don't worry." Hope said, trying hard not to laugh. Vanille glared at him then began running after him with her half-eaten ice cream waving in the air. Hope dropped his own cone and ran off, hoping to avoid Vanille's ice cream cone attack.

Aerith laughed at the scene while a dark-haired woman chuckled. "You're right Aerith. Vanille did find a new friend after all." The woman had the same accent as Vanille as she spoke. Aerith nodded. "They really have a lot of fun together. And it's nice to see Hope finally getting along with someone. Don't you think, Fang?"

Fang nodded and sipped a drink she held in her hand.

"Hey Aerith!" The brunette turned at the sound of her name being called and smiled when she saw that it was Zack with the rest of the Farrons following behind; Squall and Cloud were sharing a bag of jellybeans while Noctis was watching Lightning carefully since she was limping the whole way, and Lightning herself was simply following behind Zack, not really caring about what they were going to do for the day. Squall passed her the bag of jellybeans and Lightning scooped out a few pieces and held out some to Noctis who seemed to freeze up and blush at the silent offer.

"Zack! You brought the others with you!" Aerith said happily. Maybe now, she realized, Zack would not feel so tense now that Lightning was actually going out with them again.

"Hey Aerith, miss me? Of course you did." Zack said as he got closer and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. Fang cleared her throat and everyone looked at her. "Fang! Hey when did you get back?" Zack asked, clearly happy that a friend has returned. "Oh you know, only just last night. I called Aerith and asked what was going on and she told me. So Lightning, you bet yourself banged up again?"

Lightning only shrugged. "Does it matter?" "Yeah! I mean look at your pretty little grumpy face! All scratched with a bandage wrapped around it! And more wrappings on your legs—don't lie, I saw you limping! Your arms are all bruised up, and you probably have another bloody gash down here!" Fang said and poked Lightning's abdomen, drawing out a growl of pain from the young soldier. "I stand correct." Fang said.

"Fine! Just stop trying to reopen my wound every time I get one!" Lightning yelled at Fang. The older woman shrugged. "Look who's talking! You're the one who always gets yourself injured and then walk around all bloody; getting your own wounds open again! So don't blame me for doing it for you."

Cloud and Squall let out small coughs and Lightning glared at them. Zack laughed. "Don't worry Light! Knowing you all my life, you won't be taken down by little injuries!" He said and slapped her in the lower part of her back. Lightning let out a yell of pain.

The Farron Brothers glared at the eldest. "Zack!" "Whoops. Sorry Light."

By then, both Vanille and Hope had returned to where the group was, done with their chase. "So you're finally done with chasing each other around like cats and dogs." Fang said. Vanille giggled and Hope bent forward with his hands on his knees, panting. "Man Vanille! You can't just run around and attack people with ice cream cones!" "Well you're the one who doubted my ice cream eating skills!" Vanille retorted.

"Do we even wanna know?" Cloud asked. Fang thought for a while. "Mmm…nah! They'll get over it."

"So Lightning, what did you do to end up with wounds like that?" Asked Vanille while Hope yelled, "Hey don't change the subject behind her." The redhead ignored him and looked at Lightning. The rose-haired woman sighed. "Monster outbreak. I was attacked by a King Behemoth."

"Oh really? I thought it was Behemoth King." Said Zack. "Same name different version and both are correct." Fang interjected.

"So, how did duty go then?" Aerith asked. "Fine. We got rid of all the monsters and the behemoths." Lightning said then winced. Noctis noticed. "Are you okay?" Lightning nodded. "Yeah, the wound just stung, that's all."

"So you guys wanna go down to the beach? I hear they're gonna have some sort of show over there." Said Zack. Everyone nodded, and Lightning only shrugged.

As the group made their way to the beach, they stopped once in a while when they reached the plaza and noticed several stores and signs were still slightly damaged, but other than that, the place looked like it had always been. "Those monsters sure knew how to trash the place. You did great, Light." Fang said. Lightning nodded, not really caring. "As long as we don't have any more monster attacks any time soon. But fugitives on the run, I can still handle that."

"There she goes again," Zack sighed, "Thinking about work when she should be relaxing." "I'd appreciate it if you don't refer to me in third person while I'm standing right in front of you, Zack." Lightning said, giving her brother a dull glare.

Zack grinned. "I would if you didn't spend your time being in the background where people can talk about you in third person." Noctis shook his head, Squall pinched the bridge of his nose, and Cloud smacked a palm into his face.

Lightning rolled her eyes and continued walking.

"Is she like this all the time?" Hope asked. He got his answer when the whole group answered in unison, "Yep." "Oh." "Don't worry Hope. That's just the way she is, she won't just beat anybody up for no reason." Zack reassured. Fang looked skyward. "That's not how I heard it." She said in a sing-song voice. Zack groaned.

Cloud, Squall, and Noctis exchanged small smiles; maybe this day wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

"I really can't think of enough ways to get passed this boss in the game!" Zack complained when the group stopped by in a café for lunch. They were seated at the table talking until Zack and Hope began talking about the latest video games. Hope raised an eyebrow. "This game you're talking about, it sounds real familiar." "Are you crazy? Of course it should sound familiar! It's _Final Fantasy_!"

Aerith giggled. Squall leaned in to whisper to Cloud and Noctis. "The truth is; I had already beaten that boss Zack's talking about. He was supposed to make sure he changes the Paradigm as often as he can." The two other brothers tried not to smirk. Hope thought for a while when Zack explained his video game problem. "All you have to do is switch Paradigms as often for the right occasion and then you should have no trouble." Zack's eyes widened. "That's it? That's all I had to do? Damn!"

Lightning ignored the chatter and sipped her milkshake, her mind wandering off.

Noctis glanced at her and felt strange. Lightning, brooding or not was stunning even when dressed in a green hoodie with a white shirt under that showed her navel. He suddenly looked away and blushed. He had never noticed Lightning's navel piercing before. But it was probably abnormal for him to look at her that way.

"Lightning!" The strawberry-blonde snapped out of her thoughts and looked over at her brother. "What Zack?" "Are you okay, Sis? You haven't touched your clubhouse sandwich at all." Zack said. She shook her head. "No, I'm fine Zack," She then pushed her plate toward Squall, "You eat it, I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure, Light?" Asked Vanille. Lightning nodded and stood up from the table. "Excuse me, I just need some air."

The gang watched as Lightning walked out of the café without another word then looked at each other. "Uh…what just happened?" Hope asked. "No idea. Light usually just stays quiet and brooding like a while ago but she never walks out on us, not without any explanation though." Fang said. "Maybe she's just bent outta shape." Zack suggested, as Squall took a bite of Lightning's sandwich.

Noctis's eyes were glued to the doorway until he too stood up and pushed his plate at Squall. "Here, you have my sandwich too. I'll go see if she's alright." As he left, Squall noticed Zack was making puppy eyes while staring at the two clubhouse sandwiches. Squall made a face and pulled the plates out of Zack's reach. Zack groaned. "Man! Doesn't anyone wonder if I need to eat or not?"

"You don't need food. You're already so full of it." Said Fang before she began sipping her soda. Zack glared at her. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

* * *

Lightning sighed as she kicked another small stone out of the way.

She missed seeing the ocean. When she was young, her parents would always bring out on the beach to watch the waves roll by, but now things had changed. Her parents were dead, and her family only consisted of her and her brothers, but Lightning tried her best to remember that she still had…

She shook her head from those thoughts. She hated being dependent on others, it made her feel weak. It had been two months since the event that had taken place at home concerning…

"Lightning!" The rose-haired woman turned and saw Noctis jogging toward her. Leave it to Noctis to be the one who would chase after her. "What do you want?" "I just wanted to check on you. It's not like you to just walk out on us like that without a reason or excuse." Noctis said.

"I said I needed some air, or is that not reason enough for any of you?" Lightning retorted, glaring at her apparently doting brother. Noctis sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "Why can't you just tell us what's bothering you?" "What for? There's no point." Lightning said.

"You still miss her, don't you?" Noctis said suddenly, taken Lightning aback slightly. "Maybe. So what?" "There's nothing wrong with that, Lightning. All of us miss her as well." Noctis whispered to her. The rose-haired soldier raised an eyebrow at her brother. "What's with you all of a sudden?"

Noctis turned to stare out at the sea. "I just felt like you should know. You always take a lot on yourself even though you don't need to. Especially for Serah."

* * *

"Serah?" Hope asked.

"That's right. She's our youngest sister, and the youngest sibling all-in-all." Cloud said. Squall nodded. "You didn't know?" Hope shook his head. "No. I thought it was just you guys, I didn't know you had a younger sister." "She's eighteen, two months younger than Squall. Lightning's always so overprotective of her and because of that, Light thought it was her fault in the first place that Serah's no longer with us." Zack said.

Hope was now more intrigued by the Farrons. "What happened?"

The brothers exchanged looks before Cloud said, "Just don't tell Lightning we told you. Vanille and Fang knows about it but our sister made sure they wouldn't tell anyone, and she won't be happy that the new kid already knows about our family." Hope nodded reassuringly. "I promise."

"Fine," Squall said, "About two months ago Lightning was very upset at Serah because she was the youngest among us but she decided to live away from us. She now lives with her boyfriend who she dated for three years. Serah was so sure that she would be okay and that she loves this guy, but Lightning hated the guy ever since Serah brought him home to meet us."

"So when Serah decided to live with her boyfriend to gain her independence and some other mushy reason, Lightning was _not happy_!" Fang added. Vanille nodded. "Yep. But when Serah insisted, Lightning exploded and threatened Serah."

"But she never meant it," Zack said, "Light was only upset that Serah decided to leave us to live with her boyfriend. I mean was always looking out for Serah since she had always been the baby sister, and she admired Lightning a whole bunch. When Serah was little, she would always follow Light around and asked her questions. So I get why Lightning was so upset in the first place."

"Still, did Serah leave also because Lightning was kinda harsh on her?" Wondered Hope. Cloud growled. "No. Serah loved Lightning, and she always understood why Lightning does what she does. Serah was the reason why we learned to accept the fact that Lightning was now working for the Guardian Corps."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I just thought—" "Don't worry about it Hope," Zack said, "A lot of people misjudge Lightning when they see that she's looking out for us. They just don't know that she's working really hard to make this family work." "Our parents died six years ago, and Lightning took up the role of sister, parent, and guardian right away." Cloud added. Squall hmphed and crossed his arms. Sometimes, his sister just worked too hard.

"But what about Noctis? Why don't I hear you guys talk about him that much?" Hope asked.

The group exchanged glances. "Well… I don't know if we should share that info as well, Hope. We could tell you _some_ things, but Light's the one who knows a whole deal a lot more." Zack knew he was entering uncharted territory. "Tell me more, please."

The gang nodded at each other. "Okay then Hope, and listen carefully," Squall said, "Noctis is very much different from us in every way possible, especially as a family member. So make sure you understand what we're going to tell you and don't ever let Lightning know that we told you until the right time." Hope nodded.

"Okay then," Zack started, "It all began after our mom's funeral, we just returned home and it was raining really hard…"

* * *

**There's the third chapter of the story!**

**I really enjoyed writing all this, so I hope you all enjoyed reading it! I'm just gonna leave the chapter like this and write the continuation in the next chapter. If you like this story so far, review it and tell me what you think of it!**

**I'll work on the next chapter as soon as I can!**

**Until then…**


	4. Chapter IV: Beach Fun and Near Home Runs

**Disclaimer: ****Okay so here's the fourth chapter of the story. I'll be back to college soon so I might not be able to update so soon in a while. I hope you all liked the story so far and I would like to hear your comments and thoughts about the story.**

**Now you guys will be seeing Noctis past as a Farron—or is that what it is?**

**Just read, kick back and enjoy!**

**Summary: ****Family is one of the many things in life that keeps you steady on your feet. But what if family isn't the only thing that matters?**

**Based on "Bento" the artwork of "halfcrazyme".**

**All For One**

**Chapter IV: Beach Fun and Near Home Runs**

"It was raining hard as we were returning home from our mom's funeral," Zack began, "We looked like a bunch of nearly-drowned puppies on that night, but I left home again to get some foodstuff for our fridge." The Farron Brothers remembered that stormy night clearly, when Zack had gone outside to buy some groceries while his younger siblings settled down with some hot chocolate that Serah made.

_Six years earlier – Bodhum: Farron household_

"_Where are you going Zack?" Serah asked._

_Zack just grinned through his rain-soaked hair. "I'm just gonna run down to the store to get you guys something to eat! We gotta have food in the fridge if we're gonna live on our own, right?" His brothers did not respond and the eldest sister just kept glaring at the floor. "You can make up jokes at a time like this? What's wrong with you, Zack? Our mother is dead! Dead!"_

"_Easy little sis! I was just trying to lighten things up." Zack defended._

_Serah nodded as she handed Squall and Cloud mugs of hot chocolate. "I appreciate it, Big Brother. Thanks for looking out for us." Thirteen-year-old Cloud and twelve-year-old Squall looked at their youngest sister then nodded in agreement at Zack slowly. "Thanks you guys. I'll do my best, you know me." Zack said, grinning. The eldest female Farron glared at her brother and stood up from the couch where she had been seated between her younger brothers. "You can't protect this family with jokes! Our mother asked you look after the family, not become the Bodum's clown!"_

_The younger Farrons remained silent and watched._

_Zack held his hands up. "Don't worry! Things'll get better soon, I promise you Ec—" "Don't call me that!" She interrupted. Serah gasped while Squall and Cloud looked on in surprise. "Wh-what do you mean?" Zack asked, "It's your name!"_

"_Not anymore." Was the firm reply. "Sis!" Serah cried, "How can you say that? It's who you are! You can't just tell us that it's not your name anymore!" Squall nodded. "She's right, Éclair." "I said not to call me that." Éclair said. Her siblings stared at her for a long while. Finally, Éclair sighed and cooled down. "I'm sorry you guys. But Mom's dead and she asked us to look after the family, but I can't let you guys do everything on your own."_

"_We're not gonna do things on our own, Sis. We'll help each other." Zack said._

_Éclair sighed. "That's not what I meant. Mom asked you to look out for us, but you can't do everything at once, Zack. She knew I could look after everyone too. But all Mom said to me was to just help. That's not good enough."_

"_I don't get it, Sis." Serah said rather sadly._

"_I mean that I'm going to look after you, Serah. And the whole family too." Éclair said. Cloud looked a little unsure. "But what about the family's savings and stuff? We have to get work for ourselves." Éclair shrugged. "I'll take care of that too."_

_Zack scratched the back of his head. "If that's what you wanna do, I guess we can all help." Serah nodded in agreement. "He's right, Éclair. You don't have to do things on your own." "She might be onto something though." Squall muttered._

"_First of all," Éclair started, "Don't ever call me Éclair again. From now on, you'll be talking to Lightning." The rest of the Farrons looked at her in complete shock of her words. "Lightning? That's what you're gonna call yourself?" Zack asked. Éclair tried not to glare at him. "Is that a problem? And second of all, we got to start being grown-ups now. We can't be kids anymore."_

_Zack shook his head. "It doesn't have to be that way, Lightning." It sounded awkward, calling his little sister that. "Anyway, I'm still going to get some groceries. I'll see ya later!" And with that, Zack grabbed his raincoat and an umbrella then went out the door into the hard rains._

_About half an hour a later, Zack carried the grocery bags and shielded them with his umbrella as best as he could. He thought back to when his sister said that she would stop being Éclair and would be called Lightning instead. _

_Zack knew that it would become awkward for a while. It was not always like Elcair—now Lightning—to act this way; had she been serious when she said that she would look after the family? That she would stop being a kid?_

_All these thoughts had Zack's head spinning, so he simply shook them off for a while and continued on._

_As he approached the rain-blurred figure of a street lamp, Zack paused. He narrowed his eyes and took in a strange form next to the street lamp. It looked dark, a dog maybe? As Zack got even closer his eyes could make out the shape of clothes. It looked like a black hoodie that was now completely soaked, dark pants and shoes._

_Zack's eyes widened; it was a person!_

_The hurried over to the street lamp and laid his umbrella down against it then placed the groceries under the umbrella. Zack then turned his eyes to the person lying unconscious on the wet pavement. Slowly, he brought a hand over to the hood covering the person's face and pulled it back slowly._

_The hood revealed an unconscious young teenager; his hair was black, spiked and went down to the back of his neck. The young man's face was pale and slightly bruised, and his breathing seemed to confirm to Zack that he was sick. He looked about Lightning's age. He would need some attention and fast or he might not make it under this heavy rain. "Okay…you need help right away. But the nearest hospital is still pretty far." Zack then laughed at the irony. "So near yet so far, hah! Why am I laughing?"_

_Making up his mind, Zack slowly bent over and carefully dragged the mysterious dark-haired teen up until he was on Zack's back. It was going to be hard to carry a bag of groceries and an unconscious teenager while sheltering them all, and himself with an umbrella. Still, Zack did all that and headed for home._

_He sighed in relief when he reached the door and rang the doorbell, signaling his return._

_Serah answered the door then stopped short when she saw the teen on her older brother's back. "What happened Zack?" "Found this guy passed out under a street lamp while I was coming back. He looks kinda sick though. I thought maybe if I brought him back home we could treat him." Zack answered as he came through the door and headed for the living room. Serah took the umbrella and the groceries off his hands and nodded. "I'll get the others."_

_Zack sighed and he lay the teen down onto the couch._

_He observed the boy's features; he looked lean but also physically competent, he looked somewhat battered up, his face was becoming paler and he had started shivering. The boy's black spiky hair was fully damp and sticking to his face. What had happened to this kid, Zack wondered._

_Serah soon came back downstairs with Cloud and Squall in tow._

"_Serah told us. What happened to him anyway?" Cloud asked when he saw the body on the couch. Zack shrugged helplessly. "Beats me. I just found him like this on my way home." Squall bent over the passed-out teen and brought two fingers to his neck to check his pulse. "You're right, he is sick." "Then good thing you were there, Zack." Serah said._

"_You mean lucky thing he was there."_

_The siblings turned and saw Lightning making her way down the stairs finally, dressed in a black tank top and jogging pants. Zack could feel that his sister had suddenly changed all of a sudden. "Uh Serah, how long was I out?" "Almost two hours. Why?" Serah asked. Zack shook his head. "I don't know. It just feels like Ecla—Lightning had changed completely." "You've felt it too?" Squall asked quietly. Zack sighed; he should have known that his sister was not kidding when she said that she was going to stop being a kid now._

"_So, how's he doing now?" Lightning asked when she made her way over to the couch. "He really needs to get warm, Sis. I'll go get a blanket." Serah said and she raced upstairs to look for a blanket. Squall and Cloud nodded at each other before Cloud went into the bathroom to fetch some medicine and a few band-aids while Squall went into the kitchen to make some hot chicken soup._

_Zack scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Uh…well…" Lightning sighed. "Go ahead, I won't hurt you; you can have your warm shower while I watch him for a while until Serah comes with the blankets." Zack grinned and kissed Lightning's forehead. "Thanks a lot, Sis."_

_As Zack ran upstairs for his hot shower, Lightning sat herself on one of the couch's arms and stared at the stranger her older brother had brought home. What had Zack been thinking? How could he just allow some strange kid into their house, especially since they had been in a funeral that day? Sometimes, Zack was too nice for his own good._

_Serah ran back down the stairs and threw the blankets at Lightning's face. "Here Sis, he'll need these. Where's Squall?" Lightning gestured toward the kitchen as she draped the blankets over the 'guest'. Even though Serah was the best cook in the family that did stop the others from making their own meals, and they were good at it. But Serah did help them once in a while with making the meal more delicious._

"_I better help him with the cooking then." Serah said and she entered the kitchen. Lightning smiled slightly when she heard Serah couching Squall with making the chicken soup nice and tasty. "A little bit more salt Squall. And turn the heat up just a little."_

_A groan snapped Lightning out of her thoughts and made her look back at the boy on the couch. He touched his head and struggled to sit up, but he seemed too weak to move._

"_Hey, lie down." Lightning said. The boy froze then craned his neck to look up at Lightning, his eyes were wide with surprise._

_By the expression on his face, Lightning could tell he was surprised. The boy kept staring at her in shock. "Where…am I?" Lightning blinked, he sounded so masculine and refined for some reason. "You're in my house; my brother found you and brought you here." The boy relaxed slightly. "What happened?" "You tell me." Lightning replied. The two then stared at each other, as if challenging the other to speak first._

"_Well looky here, Éclair's making friends already." Lightning looked up and saw Zack grinning at her in amusement. Serah and Squall had emerged from the kitchen with a bowl of soup in Squall's hand. Cloud also reappeared from his hunt for medical supplies._

_The boy stared at the family unsure of the situation he was currently in._

"_Well now that this kid's awake, I start with the intros." Zack said. "I'm Zack; I'm the one who brought you here. You're welcome." Cloud rolled his eyes. "Never mind him; he's got zero attention span and the restlessness of a little puppy. I'm Cloud by the way." Squall smirked. "My name is Squall." Serah glanced at her brother and nudged him but Squall simply shrugged. "He's kind of shy around strangers. I'm Serah, you want some soup? It'll help you warm up." Squall then assisted the boy with sitting up on the couch while Serah placed the bowl and spoon on the table, within easy reach._

_The siblings then turned to stare at Lightning. She raised an eyebrow at them. "What?"_

_Zack groaned and turned to the boy. "Sorry about her. She's my little sister, three years older than Serah. Her name's Éclair—" "I told you before, my name is Lightning." She interjected. Zack sighed. "Okay fine. This is my sister Lightning."_

_The boy turned his gaze back to the strawberry-blonde girl sitting on the arm of the couch. "What about you, kid? What's your name? And how did you end up under that street lamp in the rain?" Zack asked. The boy lowered his gaze. "I don't know. I don't remember what happened; I don't even remember how I got out on the streets or how I blacked out."_

_The Farrons exchanged concerned expressions. "But…" The boy said, "I do remember my name." "Oh good! What is it?" Asked Zack. The Farrons sighed quietly when they realized that this boy at least had a name to go by in case someone came looking for him._

_The boy took a deep breath. "My name's Noctis Lucis Caelum."_

* * *

"So what you're trying to say is Noctis is not your real brother?" Hope asked. Zack shook his head. "Of course Noctis is our brother! He was just adopted, that's all." "It's the same thing, Zack." Squall said. Fang leaned an elbow on their table in the café. "Noctis was not even officially adopted; they just found him and took care of him until it became an everyday thing."

"That's not true!" Zack protested. "We tried looking for his family first. We asked him but he kept saying he couldn't remember anything except his full name. We let him stay with us for a while and then when no one came for him and no information came up, we decided to let him live with us. I mean, he had no place to go." Squall and Cloud only nodded. Hope by then had managed to put two and two together. "So if Noctis was not legally adopted by you guys, that means he's just a good friend who lived with you for six years who is allowed to use the name Farron like you guys?"

"Technically." Cloud said. "He became like a real brother to us so we decided to name him as a Farron since he became one of the family. Lightning didn't seem to mind him much. And Serah loved having a new brother around."

Hope thought for a while. "But doesn't that mean that he might like one of your sisters since you're not related?" "That's what I keep telling Zack all the time! But does he listen? No! He just insists that nothing would go on because they're all family and that Noctis is gentlemanly. But what about now Zack? You guys are all grown up and something's bound to happen!" Fang yelled. Zack rubbed his ears. "Hey, hey! Serah loves her boyfriend, remember? Noctis never made a move on her! And Lightning? She's not a dating person; all she and Noct does is challenge each other, compete on who's the strongest, always sparring with their fists."

"You're just too dense Zack." Fang said. Zack glared at her.

Aerith tried to break the tension. "But if Noctis does feel have a crush on anyone, it shouldn't be bad. He's not related to you guys after all. Right?" "Still, he's lived his life as our brother; it might become too awkward if anything happens." Cloud said. Vanille pouted at the blonde. "You shouldn't be so negative, Cloud. Anything could happen." Squall shook his head. "He's right though. Six years of being our adopted brother, how could ever act that way toward a sister now? Besides, he's never been interested in Lightning. But of all people, Lightning dating? That's a dream that only jocks at school might have. Besides, Noctis wouldn't do that. He's too polite for that."

"Y'know what? All this incest talk is making me go nuts. Why don't go and see when the show on the beach is gonna start?" Zack said, standing up. Fang stood up as well and pushed Zack back down on his chair. "Now wait just a moment! You can't be sure if Noctis _wants _to stay as your brother. I'm not saying that you don't treat him enough like family. I'm only saying that around this time, if something happens what will you do if his real family might show up out of nowhere? Oh and by the way, you're not related to Noctis so it's not exactly incest."

Fang then walked out of the café with the others following behind.

Zack sighed and leaned back onto his chair. "Excuse me?" Zack looked up to see a waitress giving a rather strange and nervous look. "Are you going to pay for the meal, sir?" Zack's eyes widened when he realized that the gang had left him alone in the café and the waitress might have heard the last part of the conversation. Just great. "Yeah, of course. It was my treat anyways."

* * *

Lightning watched the ocean on the pier with Noctis standing beside her.

"So, what do you plan to do now?" Noctis asked. Lightning sighed and crossed her arms. "I guess I should visit her one day. Maybe." "I know Serah will be happy to see you again if you visit her one of these days." Noctis said reassuringly. Lightning only huffed and kept her eyes forward.

Lightning was beautiful, Noctis admitted to himself. But it was just too wrong to see her that way, she is after all, his sister. Wasn't she?

Noctis always knew from the start that when he became one of the Farron siblings, he would become their brother, adopted but a brother all the same. Still, it was too difficult to think straight with Lightning as a sister. He managed. But for how long?

"Lightning?" The strawberry-blonde turned to him. "Yeah?" Noctis stopped cold and felt his face heat up. Lightning rolled her eyes and punched his shoulder. "Stop that! You blush over anything you do." The dark-haired man shook his head. He was shy, he admitted, but around Lightning he was _extremely_ shy. His adopted siblings knew about it but that's how they know him to be.

Gathering his wits, Noctis cleared his throat. "Sorry. I just thought maybe should head back to the other now." Lightning nodded. "Fine."

The two made their way back to where other may be waiting then caught the sight of Vanille waving at them. Lightning smirked in amusement when the cheery redhead suddenly grabbed Hope's hand and waved with it along with her own hand. Noctis shook his head. "Same old Vanille." Lightning nodded.

"Hey you two! About time you got back!" Vanille chirped. Hope was busy rubbing his wrist after vanilla had finally let go of it. The girl had a strong grip for someone so hyper.

"Where'd you run off to, Light? We were worried that you might have gone back home and locked yourself in your room again." Zack said. "I did say that I was going out to get some fresh air, Zack. I never mentioned anything about going home." Lightning reminded him. Zack shrugged and grinned. "Just making sure that you weren't planning on ditching the family again."

Squall and Cloud rolled their eyes. "Should we get going if you want to see the show on the beach?" Squall muttered and began walking off, the others followed behind him. When Hope finished soothing his wrist, he noticed that the gang had taken off already and he ran after them. "Wait up!"

Later, the group had arrived around at the beach where a crowd had gathered. The people were whispering amongst each other. The Farrons and company looked forward as a small band of made their way on top of a small stage placed on the beach. One of the band members had glasses on and his hair was styled in a cow lick. He wore a white t-shirt and simple jeans. Another band member had short curly blonde hair and was dressed in simple black pants, a white shirt and a vest, while the third guy had long brown hair with a scar on his face; he wore a black t0shirt with an unbuttoned brown shirt on top.

Noctis raised an eyebrow. What a strange-looking band.

The blonde on the stage took the microphone and spoke. "Hey people!" The crowd on the beach cheered. "I know! I know! I would miss me too! We're only gonna perform this once; we're the lucky volunteers who decided to perform today on this beach, so it's only a one-time thing." The audience aww-ed. The blonde grinned and held a hand up. "Don't worry though! We may not be staying long but hey, let's just have fun!" The audience cheered.

Noctis stared at the three as they began their first song. What made them look so special if they were only a one-time try boy band? As Noctis watched as the trio sang and played their instruments, he noticed how close the trio seemed. The blonde man was energetic while the one with glasses seemed more formal in his own way, and the man with a scar seemed to be tough but also fun-loving.

Lightning nudged Noctis when she noticed how he was being caught in a daze. "Are you okay?" Noctis looked at her and nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine." Lightning kept her eyes on Noctis and saw how he seemed to be observing the trio on the stage. "You know them?" Lightning asked. Noctis shook his head. "No. But they have my attention for some reason." Lightning let the subject go after that.

Suddenly, the trio on the stage began playing a different song. Then the scarred man began to sing.

In the quiet time of evening  
When the stars assume their patterns  
And the day has made his journey  
And we wondered just what happened  
To the life we knew before the world changed  
When not a thing I held was true  
But you were kind to me and you reminded me  
That the world is not my playground  
There are other things that matter  
And when a simple needs protecting (  
My illusions all would shatter  
But you stayed in my corner  
The only world I know was upside down  
And now the world and me, I know you carry me

Noctis felt himself freeze at the lyrics of the song. It sounded rather touching, yet he could have sworn he's heard it before. Lightning noticed this and kept her eyes on the small band.

You see the patterns in the big sky  
Those constellations look like you and I  
Just like the patterns in the big sky  
We could be lost we could refuse to try  
But we made it through in the dark night  
Would those lucky guys turn out to be  
But that unusual blend of my funny friend and me

I'm not as clever as I thought I was  
I'm not the boy I used to be because  
You showed me something different, you showed me something pure  
I always seemed so certain but I was really never sure  
But you stayed and you called my name  
When others would have walked out on a lousy game  
And you could've made it through  
But your funny friend and me.

The crowd cheered as the scarred man sang the song. The trio then finished the song and bowed. The blonde man then grabbed the microphone again.

"Hey thanks you guys! You were great! Um…" The audience silenced themselves. The blonde man chuckled nervously. "Well, that last song is dedicated to our good friend, who we lost many years ago. The four of us thought of the song together and the song itself made us think of our friendship." He paused. "I only wish he were here right now, to hear us dedicate this song, this whole performance to him." The man with glasses then took the microphone. "And wherever he is, I'm sure he is somewhere safe and warm. We decided to do this show, because of him and because he is a good friend to us." The scarred man then took his turn to speak. "And if you're watching this show from somewhere, buddy, I hope you like it. Thanks for being there for us, and you'll always be one of us!"

The audience clapped and cheered at the touching moment.

Aerith looked over at Vanille and saw that she was weeping. "Vanille, are you okay?" "I'm fine. I just thought that those guys were so sweet! Dedicating that kind of song for a friend that they lost. And they don't know if he's alive or dead!" Hope began rubbed Vanille's back comfortingly.

Zack smiled. "Well, whoever their friend is, I'm sure he's proud of them." Aerith and Vanille nodded in agreement.

"Noctis." Noctis moved his eyes from the ground to look at Lightning. "I think we better go home." "What? C'mon Light, we got more fun things to do." Zack said. Lightning shook her head. "Fine, have your fun; I better take Noctis home myself. Noctis blushed. "No, I'm fine. You don't have to take me back." "You haven't been looking too good for a while, Noctis. You should rest." Lightning saud. Noctis raised an eyebrow. "Look who's talking; the very same Sergeant Farron who refuses to rest while she had been injured by a Behemoth King."

Lightning and Noctis then began exchanging hard and deadly glares, making Zack chuckle and Squall and Cloud shake their heads. "I told you they like competing against each other." Zack said smugly. Fang rolled her eyes.

By the time the two finally managed to break away from their glaring contest, Zack and the others were already feasting on hotdogs they bought from a stand. "Maybe it's time to head back now." Cloud suggested. Zack checked his watch then whistled. "Wow time really flies when you're having fun." "Oh yeah, having fun watching those two glare the living daylights out of each other." Fang said sarcastically. Vanille giggled and Hope chuckled.

Squall started for home. "Let's go then, I was getting tired anyway."

Lightning, Cloud, Squall, and Noctis exchanged farewells to their friends while Zack gave Aerith a kiss on her cheek and grinned at her. The rest of the Farrons rolled their eyes and Lightning had to drag Zack by his shirt as they headed home.

* * *

Back at their place, the Farron siblings soon retired into their rooms for the night.

Noctis tried his best to fall asleep but he just couldn't bring himself to close his eyes for more than a minute. Not for the first time, he wondered where his real family was; did leave him there in the raniy streets of Bodhum or did something happen to them that they had no choice but to leave Noctis in the rain.

These entire thoughts made Noctis sigh. What was the use? It had been six years, and in that time no one had ever come looking for him. Besides, the Farrons had taken him in and made them on of their own; they even went far enough to give him their last name and call him their brother. Noctis knew he would always be grateful to them. They became his best friends, and his own family. Smiling Noctis lay back into the mattress of his bed and tried to sleep once again.

A knock on the door snapped him out of his concentration of getting some sleep.

"Come in." He allowed. To Noctis's surprise, Lightning entered his room and closed the door behind her. "Were you asleep?" "No, I couldn't sleep. What's wrong?" Lightning hesitated for a moment before answering, "I'm not sure."

Noctis sat up and scooted for her to sit beside him. "Do you want to talk about it?" "Maybe… If I knew what was bothering me. I thought that maybe I should try and visit Serah, but what if she doesn't want to see me after what I had said to her?" Lightning looked troubled at the thought. But Noctis lived with the Farrons long enough to know that Serah loved Lightning and idolized her.

"I don't think she would turn you away. She really cares for you, Lightning. You were upset and you didn't mean a thing you said back then." Noctis said.

Lightning relaxed a bit when she thought about it. Maybe paying Serah a visit wouldn't be so bad. But Lightning never did like her little sister's boyfriend, even though Serah did love him. "Thanks anyway Noctis." "For what?" He asked. "For being there, even though you know full well that I'm not really your sister."

"_I don't think I want you to be a sister to me anymore."_ His own thoughts startled him and Noctis shook his head. "Not a problem."

Lightning turned her tired gaze onto him and ruffled his hair. "You're an idiot sometimes, you know that?" Noctis felt his face heat up at Lightning's touch; her hand was now stroking his hair. Feeling strangely bold, Noctis sighed and grabbed her wrist. Lightning gave him a look, as if ready to spar with their fists again.

Noctis lowered their arms and he leaned in slowly. Lightning's eyes widened when she finally realized what he was doing.

Seeing her expression, Noctis sighed and touched her lips with his own before she could pull away. The kiss was sweet and tender; Lightning's lips were as soft as Noctis had imagined. Lightning struggled a bit but then began to respond to him. Their heartbeats quickened as Noctis deepened the kiss, begging for Lightning to let him taste her mouth so that she may taste his as well. The strawberry-blonde resisted at first but then relented. She received a thankful moan in return.

The two soon broke apart to breath. Noctis kept his eyes on Lightning's light blue ones and rested his head in her shoulder. "Lightning…?" She looked down at him. Noctis kissed her shoulder. "You felt more than a sister to me." Lightning sighed and leaned her head back when Noctis moved his lips to her neck. "Why me?" She whispered breathlessly.

Noctis couldn't bear to pull away to tell her. Instead he showed her; gently he lay her down on the mattress, his lips still attached to her neck.

Lightning moaned quietly and her hand moved to his shirt. Noctis lifted himself from her so she was would be able to discard his top. In return he laid a soft, passionate kiss on her lips. The both of them moaned at the union of their lips before pulling away. Lightning sat up and Noctis allowed her. She stared at him for a moment before she leant down to kiss his muscled chest. Noctis groaned in content at the contact and ran his hand through her strawberry-blonde hair. "Lightning." When she lifted her head back up to look at him again, Noctis felt his heart skip a beat as he reach for her tank top.

Noctis woke with a start and gasped.

What had been thinking? Or dreaming, or whatever it was that had happened to him. When had he fallen asleep? Noctis shook his head and wiped the sweat off; why had he been dreaming about Lightning of all people. He did not doubt Lightning's beauty but it made him feel odd that he had nearly taken her in his sleep. He punched himself in the face for thinking such a thing; him romancing Lightning? His adopted sister? Ridiculous! He may have thought she was very attractive, but he never felt anything more intimate than being somewhat of a doting brother.

Still, Noctis had to be sure of himself. He got out of bed and walked down the hall to Lightning's room.

He knocked slowly. When she didn't answer, Noctis thought she might be asleep. He knocked again to make sure. No answer. Slowly, he opened the door, surprised that the door was actually unlocked. Lightning was nowhere in sight. The sound of water running confirmed his thoughts; Lightning was in the shower.

Sighing, he allowed himself to relax slightly. Noctis then allowed himself to sit in Lightning's bed and think.

Lightning emerged from her bathroom fully dressed while drying her wet hair with a towel. When she saw Noctis she froze. "What are you doing in here?" Noctis snapped back to the present and blushed slightly. "I'm sorry; I just wanted to make sure that you were doing okay. How are your wounds?" "Better. I can move around a bit without flinching too much now." Lightning said with a shrug.

Noctis nodded. He then noticed Lightning's clothes; jogging pants and a gray tank top. The same kind tank top she wore when he had been dreaming. Noctis's ears became red and he looked away from her. It had to be a scary coincidence.

Lightning raised an eyebrow at this. "What?" "Nothing. Anyway, I'm just glad you doing fine now." Noctis made his way over to the door. "Good night, Lightning." "Yeah. Good night." She replied.

When Noctis closed the door behind him, Lightning sighed. What was the matter with that adopted brother if hers? Shrugging to herself, Lightning pulled back the blankets of her bed, got in and went to sleep.

* * *

**Finished! Hahahah!**

**Did you guys really think that it was going to be that easy? No way am I gonna let the romance blossom too soon. These things take time and patience, especially when they are adopted siblings. (Dodges tomatoes and a shower of bullets)**

**Okay, okay! But don't worry, it'll come soon. Just wait a while longer. I just don't want to spoil the story by making it romantic too soon, and I apologize but I won't be writing any lemons, only parts that may give hints on what's going on and scenes about the morning after (Gets hit my a tomato).**

**Anyway, I hope I did okay with this chapter, and look there! The nameless trio had made an appearance today on the beach! Hoorah! The song that I used here is called "My Funny Friend and Me" by Sting, from the Emperor's New Groove. The song was kinda touching so I thought I'd put it in here to show how the three really appreciate their long lost friend (Winks) You should listen to the song while reading the part. I hope you're enjoying the story so far, please review and comment, and let me know what you think. I'll start the next chapter as soon as I can whenever my college schedules allows me.**

**Until Then…**


	5. Chapter V: Not So Ordinary

**Disclaimer: ****Okay, so I managed to get myself a pretty decent college schedule. That means that I won't have that much of a problem to write every now and then. So I hope you guys enjoyed the appetizer (or a sneak peak of one) in the previous chapter. I really enjoy writing this fanific and I'd love to continue it, if you guys would let me.**

**Okay so now that it has been revealed to all that Noctis is in fact adopted, what is he to do now? And what is to become of Lightning since she has no idea that she had just been in someone's passionate dream in the last chapter? And where the hell is the rest of the FF cast?**

**Well, you're about to find out (the last part I mean. *gets shot*)!**

**Summary: ****Family is one of the many things in life that keeps you steady on your feet. But what if family isn't the only thing that matters? Sooner or later, one must choose.**

**Based on "Bento" the artwork of "halfcrazyme".**

**All For One**

**Chapter V: Not So Ordinary**

The sunrays hit Squall's face that morning. He groaned and touched the scar on the bridge of his nose and smiled; no matter how many times it reminded him of how close he was to being shot to death, someone loved his scar more than anyone could ever love a scarred body.

Squall sat up in bed and headed into his bathroom for a morning shower.

As he turned the knob to warm and let the water hit his firm, muscular form, Squall could not help but wonder about today, when he and his siblings would head out to Bodhum University. It made him somewhat nervous; he hadn't had the chance to fix things up first. Sighing, Squall stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist and went out of the bathroom back to his room.

By the time he managed to get some clean pants on, his cell phone rang, snapping him out of his thoughts. He read the name on his phone and smiled slightly.

"Hello?" "Hello, Squall?" A voice from the other side of the line asked. Squall nodded even though he knew that the person couldn't see. "Yeah it's me." "Umm…will you be in school today? I need to talk to you." The person said. Squall was tensed, what if his fears were confirmed? "Yeah, I'll be there. As soon as by brothers and sister wakes up. I promise." "Thanks. I'll be waiting."

Squall waited until the caller hung up and then sighed.

His siblings never saw the nervous side of him and he intended to keep it that way. Only the person who had just called him on his phone was the one who had ever seen his more vulnerable side.

Also, it had been about three weeks since the day on the beach. When Lightning had gone back to work, Lieutenant Amodar all but kicked her out of the base saying she still needed a vacation from working too hard, despite Lightning's predictable protests. She had then called home to grumpily and somewhat sulkily tell her brothers that Amodar had refused to let her back to work until who knows how long. Noctis had been the one to pick her up from the base after that.

Squall smirked when he remembered how Lightning's face looked when she arrived back home dejected. Zack had tried to cheer her up by jokingly saying, "At least now we don't have to worry that this month's medical supplies will run out soon." Lightning had simply glared and retreated into her room where she obviously began practicing punches and doing push-ups.

Squall sighed as he dressed into his uniform; a white button up shirt and black pants along with a black belt with a silver buckle.

Lightning was too sulky and grumpy to bring to school today, it was time like these that the Farron Brothers and even Serah knew that they should leave her alone for a while otherwise they would end up being forced to date Lightning's very best friend, her fist. Zack had encountered such an unfortunate experience; he had stayed away from his sister for a good two days, and during those two days, whenever Lightning would pass by Zack would jump up in terror, afraid he may end up meeting with the legendary 'Lightning Punch'—as Fang and Vanille had dubbed it—again.

As Squall now made his way down to the kitchen, he noticed that plates full of food were already on the table. Lightning's doing now doubt, even if she was too sulky to go to school.

"Mornin' Squall!" Zack greeted as he ran down the stairs and leapt over the last three steps. "I'm hyped! Today's the day our University is gonna take us on a little trip." "It's an educational road trip Zack, not a kid fieldtrip to the candy store. We're going to be taken somewhere a little far from Bodhum to study culture you know." Squall said. Zack shrugged. "Still, it means I get to see a new place outside of Bodhum."

At that moment, Cloud and Noctis came walking down the stairs dressed in the same uniform as Zack and Squall.

"Let's go." Cloud said as he grabbed a hardboiled egg from the table and headed out the door. Zack and Noctis grabbed a piece of bacon each from the table as well and followed Cloud out. Squall stared up at the stairs where he knew his older sister was bored and brooding in her room.

The dark brown-haired Farron then picked up piece of toast from the table and followed his brothers, making sure to lock the door behind him.

When Squall lifted the toast to take a bite out of it, he paused. The toast looked rather strange and had a combination of ingredients on it. Squall pulled the toast farther away from his face and looked at it carefully. A rather humorous-looking roaring monster face was pasted on the toast. The black eyes of the toast monster were made with two raisins that had been carefully instated into the bread; the mouth was made of carefully squared with strawberry jam, and the white teeth were carefully prayed specks of whip cream.

Squall smiled. Lightning must have made this monster toast herself early in the morning before the boys woke up.

"You're lucky that I like monster toast. Otherwise I would have had no idea why there was such a funny-looking face on the toast trying so hard to look scary." With that being said, Squall took a bite from the top of the monster toast's head.

At the school grounds, the Farron Brothers settled on a bench and sighed.

"I was hoping that we would be able to drag L back here with us today. I guess not." Zack said disappointedly. Squall continued to munch on his monster toast while Cloud was mentally making a list of ways to keep Lightning uninjured and healthy for the next month. When Squall glanced at Noctis, he noticed how the older adopted Farron was looking rather distant. The brothers were in such gloomy moods that they did not notice someone walk up their bench from behind. As Squall took another bit out of his monster toast, he was suddenly clunked on the top of his head along with Cloud.

Zack and Noctis suddenly turned to see who the perpetrator was only to have their eyes widen in complete surprise.

Lightning stood behind Squall and Cloud, holding what seemed to be small boxes over their heads. The box over Squall was wrapped in an orange cloth while the one over Cloud's head was wrapped in a green cloth. "You guys forgot your lunches," was all Lightning said, smiling at them both lightly. Squall and Cloud lifted their heads to look up at Lightning who held the two boxes on their heads and smirked at her. Lightning, still holding the boys' lunches in place, walk around the bench to face them before she handed them their lunches.

Zack smirked at his younger sister. "You always did have a way with handling the bento."

Lightning gave him a look before she reached into her bag and got out another bento box covered in a red cloth and handed it to Zack. The eldest Farron grinned from ear to ear. "You are the best sister ever!" Lightning rolled her eyes and dig into her bag again. "Don't always count on it."

Noctis stiffened when Lightning brought out another bento box, wrapped in a purple cloth and held it out to him. "Here, it's your lunch." She stated.

Noctis could feel his hands shake; damn! Why did his shyness have to interfere now? It was only lunch; there was no need to overreact! But when he looked at Lightning's eyes, Noctis could not control himself and he froze completely. Zack laughed at this.

Lightning rolled her eyes and shoved the bento into Noctis's hands. "You need work on your macho skills." Lightning said bluntly. Noctis's blush deepened. His hold on the bento box tightened slightly out of embarrassment. "Sorry. Thanks, Lightning."

"So L, what made you come out here just to deliver our lunches?" Zack said, ruffling Lightning's untamed strawberry-blonde hair. The young sergeant slapped her brother's hand away and glared at him. I'm surprised that you didn't get my reason even though I'm practically wearing it." Zack gave Lightning a clueless look before he actually looked at his sister's outfit. Lightning was wearing a black school skirt, the same white button-up shirt under a blue sweater. The girls' uniform.

"I thought you were too upset to go anywhere. Why the change of mind?" Zack asked. Lightning shrugged. "I guess I got bored and needed something to do. Besides," She then looked at each of her brothers, "someone has to keep you all out of trouble."

* * *

Lightning's return to Bodhum University after a week of working out in the field had drawn out impressed and respected response from most of the professors. Apparently they had watched the news report from three weeks ago when the Bodhum plaza had been overrun by behemoths.

Lightning only brushed aside their compliments and concerns about her health and simply went on as if the day was like any other. But with a Bodhum Security Regiment Sergeant as a sister, things were bound to happen; either exciting or just plain bizarre.

Now as Squall busied himself with reading his history textbook, a pair of hand covered his eyes. "Hi. Guess who." A voice said rather shyly.

Squall smiled lightly and gently pried the hands from eyes and turned to look at the brunette. "Rinoa." He greeted. Rinoa Heartilly nodded slowly. "That's right. So…how have you been?" "Good. And you? Are you all right now?" Squall asked, rare concern covered his tone and voice completely. Rinoa smiled reassuringly. "The doctors said that I'll be just fine. I was really worried myself when they said that I may go blind permanently. But I'm glad that it'll be okay now, I just have to make sure I don't push myself too hard they, said."

Squall mentally sighed with relief. Rinoa Heartilly, his girlfriend of two years now had been diagnosed with an eye problem that could leave her perpetually blind. She had been under the watch of some of the best doctors for the two whole years Squall and Rinoa had been together. It relieved Squall to know that Rinoa was now getting better.

"I missed you." Squall admitted, leaning his forehead against hers. Rinoa blushed and began rubbing their forehead together; earning a small smile that was all Squall. "I missed you too Squall. Once I get better, we'll go out on another date!" Rinoa chirped. Squall knew she meant it, but he could also tell that she was trying to stay optimistic about her condition. Still… "It doesn't matter to me if you're blind or not. You would still be Rinoa. I would never leave you for something like that." Squall whispered then kissed her forehead.

Rinoa sighed. "I really don't deserve someone like you, Squall. I'm not strong enough to do anything brave or…" "What does it matter? And I already see you as someone who's brave enough to fight for what she believes in." Squall said.

"Hey Squall!" The youngest Farron Brother groaned when the familiar voice of his oldest brother reached his ears. Squall then pulled away from Rinoa. So much for time with your girlfriend.

Zack ginned as he reached the pair and gave Squall a noogie, something the brunette teen resented. "Let go before I break that arm you're holding me with." "C'mon little bro, lighten up! Hey Rinoa." Zack greeted when he noticed Rinoa. The raven-haired teen then said, "Oh, hey Zack how's Lightning. I saw the news three weeks ago. They said that the Sergeant had been injured during the behemoth exterminating." "Same as always." Zack said. "And like always, she nearly finished up our medical supplies with injuries like those, and wouldn't stay still. But she recovered already, now she's got a bunch of new scars to add to her little battle scars collection. Not that I know where the others are found." Rinoa giggled. "Same old Light Bulb, huh?"

"You seem to be doing fine yourself." Rinoa started and turned around to face Lightning's everyday neutral expression.

Noctis and Cloud stood on either side of her. "Hello Rinoa." Cloud greeted. Rinoa smiled then turned to Noctis. He was shy as always. Lightning sighed and elbowed him, earning her a glare from the adopted Farron. "You're a wimp." Lightning stated bluntly. Noctis poked at her forehead roughly with an index finger. "And you're a big bottle of lightning storms that's just ready to beat up whatever it comes across."

"At least I don't freeze every time I deal with people." Lightning retorted. Noctis glared again. "I'm not the one whose hair is blinding to the eyes because it probably contains high watts. Why don't you switch to a lower watt, Light Bulb?" "Shut up!"

Zack snickered while Squall and Cloud forced out a cough. Rinoa simply giggled. "It's nice to know that some things never change."

* * *

The hours went on until the time came for the trip. Both the University and high school students gathered outside to wait for the pick-ups.

Lightning crossed her arms and resisted the urge to yawn. "Hey Light!" The rose-haired woman turned her head to see Fang, Vanille, and Hope heading toward her direction. Zack grinned and waved the three over. Lightning glanced over at Hope. The boy now seemed accustomed to the school grounds and looked much more comfortable around his new friends. Lightning smiled lightly at the silver-haired boy when he began talking to Zack.

"So Light, I had no idea that you were coming today. We've heard talk but we couldn't be so sure." Vanille said.

Lightning shurugged. "I was bored." "Right. Should've known that was all there was to it." Fang said, shaking her head. Rinoa approached and tapped Fang on the shoulder. The older woman's eyes widened. "Rinoa! How are you? I haven't heard from you in two months!" Rinoa smiled. "Don't worry, Fang. I'm a lot better now. The doctors say that I'm on my way to recovering, if I'm careful." "That's great Riona! We were so worried." Vanille said, making her way over to them. Hope followed Vanille and glanced at her questioningly.

"Oh Rinoa, this is Hope. He's a new friend." Vanille introduced. Rinoa lifted an eyebrow. "Oh cool. I was about to assume that you had a boyfriend now Vanny." Vanille and Hope' eyes widened in shock and felt their faces turn red. The two heard a low chuckle and glanced at Lightning who was smirking smugly. "I told you so." "Uh… Rinoa's Squall's girlfriend; they've been together for two years now!" Vanille explained to Hope hastily.

Noctis watched the exchange between his adopted sister and friends. The sight made him smile, he was glad that Lightning could at least acknowledge the fact that she had friends. As Noctis watched, he could not but help notice how Lightning's eyes shone in the daylight, making her usual unfriendly stare seem much gentler. The way the soft wind blew at her light strawberry-blonde locks, gently ruffling her already untamed hair. Lightning's soft and slightly spiked bangs moved along with the breeze, falling over her electrical blue eyes. Noctis's chest began thudding abnormally, and he felt his whole being becoming warm all over.

Noctis drew his gaze away from his sister and the warmth in his body faded almost instantly.

Rinoa had glanced at Noctis and noticed his stare and followed it to Lightning. When Rinoa had first started dating Squall, it took him a while to tell her that Noctis had been adopted. He had finally let the cat out of the bag when Rinoa somewhat uncomfortably said that she noticed how Noctis seemed to be gentlemanly protective of Serah and affectionately doting on Lightning without him knowing that he was.

Squall had suddenly said that Noctis was not his blood-related brother. The confession caught Rinoa slightly off guard but she knew that she should have known it from the start; Noctis looked nothing like the rest of the Farrons and there had been a different air about him, as if he were an odd man out. Now whenever Rinoa saw Noctis, she could hardly see him as her boyfriend's brother or Lightning's brother for that matter, especially when he always seemed to be doting on her from a distance.

"What's wrong?" Rinoa jumped slightly and saw Cloud looking at her with concern.

"Oh, it's nothing. Say Cloud, I know that this might sound wrong and rude but…have you ever wondered about how Noctis looks out for Lightning? I mean…the way he looks after her, even as a brother, seems so different." Cloud was silent for a while as he thought about it. It was true that Lightning enjoyed competing with Noctis on some sort of sibling rivalry scale, but the air was always different whenever they challenged one another. But was it wrong to assume such a thing of an _adopted_ sibling? "I have thought about it at times." Cloud admitted. "But I'm not sure it were wrong or not." Rinoa nodded.

"Hey look! The pick-up's here!" Zack said suddenly.

Several buses pulled over on the school lot. The University and high school students all got into the buses, chatting excitedly to each other. As Cloud clamored up into the bus, someone bumped into him from behind. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't see where I was going." The blonde turned and his eyes widened.

A black-haired girl was rubbing her forehead and looking apologetic.

When their eyes met, Cloud held his breath. "Tifa?" The girl gasped. "Cloud? Is that you?" The blonde Farron nodded. "Cloud! It's been a long time. How have you been?" Tifa asked. Cloud smiled at her. "Doing well."

"Hey Cloud c'mon already!" Zack called for his brother to hurry up.

Cloud sighed and Tifa laughed. The two then entered the bus and looked for empty seats. The seats on the back were taken by the Farrons and company. Zack was in his seat, sitting beside Hope and talking about video games again. Across from them Fang and Vanille chatted about random topics, behind them sat Squall and Rinoa. Across from the two of them and behind Zack and Hope's seat were Lightning and Noctis. The strawberry-blonde woman sat with her arms and legs crossed, and her eyes were closed in concentration. Noctsi sat at the window, his head resting in his fist as he looked out the window.

"Hey Tifa! Where've ya been?" Zack said when he noticed Cloud's companion. Tifa chuckled. "I've been around Zack. So how are things?" "Same old same old." Zack said, grinning.

Cloud Tifa walked over to the empty seat behind Vanille and Fang and sat down. The bus doors shut and the vehicle began to move. "Where are we going you think?" Vanille asked. "I heard we were gonna head to Tenebrae." Fang replied. Hope looked over Zack's shoulder. "Tenebrae? Why there?"

"That place is just crawling with history of the old days of the cold war. I bet that it's the perfect spot for studying about it." Fang said, shrugging.

Noctis's eyes glanced away from the window and over to Fang. _"Tenebrae? That gothic city?" _Lightning sighed from where she sat with her arms and legs crossed. "Of all places, the University chooses to bring us to a gloomy city." "Maybe your dark mood finally got to the school staff, Lightning Bolt." Noctis mumbled and brought his eyes back to the streets rolling by outside the window.

Lightning smirked; one of the few things that could keep her entertained were her battles of will with Noctis. He was impressive enough to keep up with Lightning like he did.

"So how far is Tenebrae?" Hope asked finally. "It's almost a three hour drive." Tifa said from where she sat beside Cloud.

The drive was uneventful except for Zack's constant attempt to make Lightning and Noctis relax; the two would once in a while glare at each other out of boredom and sometimes argue over nothing in particular, much to their friends' amusement. Cloud sat back and watched as Lightning once again lashed out at the adopted Farron by punching his chest. Noctis retaliated by shoving her head away slightly. Rinoa's question came flowing back into Cloud's mind. What _were _Noctis's intentions towards Lightning? Could he possibly be developing affections for the solitary soldier even after six years of being their adopted brother?

Cloud watched carefully as Noctis smirked in triumph when Lightning grew bored with bickering and sat back in the same position she had been in from the start of the drive. Noctis's dark blue eyes seemed to shine lightly when he looked at Lightning. _"Yes. Yes he could… But would Lightning want him?"_ Cloud suddenly found his shoes interesting. _"He doesn't even know he cares for Lightning. But what about his old life? What if he found it again? Would he stay or…" _Cloud suddenly felt anxious. Noctis had been one of them for a long time now, if he left the family, things may not be the same again. And Lightning… Cloud knew she could not bring herself to admit that she had grown rather attached to their adopted sibling. And Serah loved Noctis, she was always happy to know that he was her brother, connected by blood or not, and the brothers loved the company of Noctis.

"Cloud? Are you okay?" Tifa asked. The blonde nodded slowly, almost sadly.

* * *

When the bus slowed, the Farrons and company looked out of the windows. They had arrived at Tenebrae. The city did indeed look a little dark even during the day, but the city lights were also mesmerizing and the sun still shone over the buildings.

The driver and students got down from the buses.

"Well, time to get educated." Zack said. The gang nodded. "Uh Zack…what about…" Vanille pointed to Lightning and Noctis's seat. The two were asleep; Noctis's head was resting on his fist, leaning against the window while Lightning's own head was resting on Noctis's shoulder, her face still looking serious even in her sleep, yet more relaxed.

The gang stared.

"That is _not_ a brother-sister thing going on there." Fang said. The others nodded slowly, almost cautiously. "That's what they get for wasting their energy on arguing." Zack joked and started poking Lightning's arm.

"Is he for real?" Hope asked in disbelief. Cloud nodded and Squall crossed his arms. "Unfortunately he is." Fang smacked her face with her palm and shook her head at Zack who was trying to wake his sister and brother by poking them in the arm.

The gang noticed Lightning's eyebrow twitched slightly in her sleep, and they took a few steps back.

As Zack kept poking at Lightning's arm, the strawberry-blonde's eyes snapped open and she punched Zack when least expected it. Fang shook her head. "Lightning Punch." She and Vanille said as Zack rubbed his sore cheek while he exited the bus.

Lightning and Noctis followed behind the gang, both yawning tiredly.

They quickly joined with the rest of the students just as the professors began explaining the history of the Cold war in Tenebrae. Noctis sighed, completely bored. Still, he felt rather comfortable with standing around in Tenebrae, as if he had been here before. But Noctis knew he never had.

As the students and professors began walking on into the city, Noctis paused when someone called him. "Noctis? Noctis is that you?"

He turned and found himself facing blonde woman wearing a black skirt and sundress with a white cardigan on top. The woman's eyes widened. "Noctis! It _is _you!" She approached him. Noctis raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" The woman paused. "Y-you don't remember me? It's me, Stella!" Noctis shook his head. "I'm sorry. You must have mistaken me for someone else." "So then your name is not Noctis?" "It is. But I don't know you." The blonde looked disappointed.

"Noctis!" He looked back to see Lightning coming toward him with the others following behind. Aerith was now also with them.

"Lightning. It's okay, I was just sidetracked." Noctis said. Cloud and Squall noticed the blonde woman standing behind Noctis. "Who is this?" Cloud asked. Noctis looked at the woman again. "I don't know. I'm sorry ma'am. But I'm not the obviously not the Noctis you're looking for."

Lightning looked at the stranger woman and felt her blood freeze.

Was this woman really someone who knows Noctis from long ago, or was it only a coincidence? Lightning found it hard to move for a moment, her heart was behaving badly for some reason. Squall nudged Lightning gently with an elbow. The young soldier nodded.

The woman sighed in disappointment as Noctis and the others walked off. However, he turned and said, "I hope you find your friend."

After that, they left completely. Stella sighed and shook her head. "Thanks. But I'm sure I found you. There is no one else name Noctis here."

* * *

"Wow Noct. I didn't know you were such a famous guy. The girls are all over you and you didn't tell us." Zack joked and Noctis rolled his eyes.

"Cut the crap Zack." The gang looked at Lightning with surprise. She looked rather upset and intolerant of jokes. "Hey what's the matter Sis? Are you okay?" Zack asked carefully. "Yes. Now stop joking around or I _will_ give you a black eye for bothering me back at the bus." She walked off to join the rest of the student groups.

Noctis watched as Lightning walked away, her posture was hostile and unfriendly. What had set her off all of a sudden? Was she mad about something?

His heart began beating a slow and almost sad rhythm. He wanted to comfort Lightning. But if he did, he might end up making a mistake and have her push him away. Lightning was hard to read that way.

Lightning groaned in annoyance at herself. Why had she been so upset?

She raised a hand to her chest and felt her heart thudding restlessly. Was there something wrong with her? All of a sudden, Lightning felt…sad. Was she upset that Noctis might have been close to finding the truth only to find out it wasn't? Was she upset because Zack had to go on and joke about it?

For the rest of the trip and during the drive back, Lightning was silent and looked at no one.

The others grew concerned when Lightning still refused to talk or look at them after they had returned to Bodhum. The solitary soldier kept her gaze forward and everywhere else except at her friend, and especially Noctis. During the hours when she had been brooding, Lightning felt herself resenting Noctis for some reason and would keep her eyes locked elsewhere whenever she looked at her or tried to talk.

* * *

Later that night at the Farron household, Noctis lay awake once again.

Was the blonde woman he met someone he knew or was it really a coincidence? The vibe he had gotten when he had looked at her was rather familiar, but could have also been nothing. As his mind drifted farther, his thoughts returned to Lightning and her strange behavior that day.

Was he the reason she was so upset?

Noctis sat up in bed and held his head in his hand. He needed to get his thoughts in order. He stood up and left his room, intending to talk to Lightning about why she was acting so out-of-place.

When he reached her room, he knocked gently until Lightning answered the door. "What do you want?" She glowered at him. "I wanted to talk to you. Why were you so upset today?" Lightning sighed in exasperation and walked back into her room. Noctis went in and slowly closed the door behind him.

Lightning sat on her bed and glared at him.

"Why do you care anyway? Just go back to your room and paint it black or something." Lightning snapped. Noctis stood in front of her and rubbed the back of his head. "Lightning, if it was something I said, just tell me what I said wrong."

Lighting gave him an odd look. "Why are you asking if it was something you did wrong? It's like you're asking a boyfriend question. " Noctis blushed. "Brothers are allowed to ask their sister if they had said anything wrong." "Yeah, whatever."

Noctis sighed and sat beside Lightning.

"Look, I'm sorry if I did anything wrong. But if I didn't do anything, then why were you so upset?" "It wasn't you. I was just getting upset at myself. I was feeling a bit weird and I didn't know why; I hate feeling confused." Lightning said.

Noctis leaned his head against her forehead and sighed. "You had everyone worried today, you know. You were completely unapproachable." Lightning smirked a bit then became serious again. "Listen, I'm sorry for acting the way I did today. I was just so out of it, I didn't know why I got so…"

Noctis rubbed their forehead together. "You're my sister. Even though were not really related, I owe you a lot. You and the others took care of me." Lightning stared at his dark blues eyes and froze. She could not look away from him, maybe she didn't want to. Noctis's heart was hammering in his chest when Lightning smiled. "Thanks Noctis."

Noctis let out labored breaths. "No problem." Slowly, he began to lean closer.

Lightning watched as he bent his head slightly until his breath mingled with hers. _"What is he doing?"_ Noctis caressed her cheek with one hand as he leaned in closer and kissed her. The soldier's eyes widened with shock. This was wrong! He is her adopted brother, yet she could not make herself pull away.

Noctis released her lips and went for her neck. Lightning gasped at the warm sensation his closeness gave out. She raised a hand to tangle her fingers in his messy black hair, also slightly pushing his head closer to her neck.

Her response warmed Noctis as he gently nipped her skin. He then pulled away and looked at her. "I'm sorry. But…you _had _to know."

Lightning did not respond. Instead, she pressed her lips against his, asking for entrance. Noctis gave in easily and moaned when her tongue touched his. Their dance continued until they felt the need to breath. Lightning rubbed her face against his neck before she began laying soft kisses on his throat. Noctis sighed and pinned her back onto her bed.

"Stop now Light. I might hurt you." "You know I can handle any pain that hits me." Lightning said.

Noctis shook his head and kissed her neck. Lightning slid off his shirt and laid it beside her on the bed. He stared at her in surprise before he too slid her white t-shirt off her body. Lightning watched him as he caressed every part of her body with his lips, moaning once in a while.

* * *

Cloud's mind was full of worry as he lay in bed.

Noctis seemed to have had a close call, but had that woman really been a friend to him or was it a coincidence like Noctis said? Lightning's behavior worried the spiky-haired teen to no end, but maybe some sleep could help with that.

Besides the troubled thoughts he had, Cloud's mind wandered to Tifa Lockhart. He smiled. Tifa had been a friend of his when he was only five-years-old. Tifa had been his only friend at that time who was not a sibling.

"Tifa." Her name to him naturally. As if he were meant to say all the time. Cloud sighed and went to sleep.

* * *

Noctis paused when both he and Lightning were now dressed in nothing by the sheets.

He lay on top of her, sweat forming on their bodies. "I should…stop now." Lightning nodded and Noctis rolled off and lay beside her. "Not now. I can't just make you do this, it's too soon."

Lightning caught her breath after a few seconds and turned to look at him. "Is this what you had in mind when you said you wanted to talk?" Noctis blushed. "I'm sorry. But you were hard to resist." Lightning rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the information." She said sarcastically.

Noctis moved closer until she was in his arms and kissed her again. "It's true. Lightning I…"

He jolted upright in bed and began panting. Noctis turned to his side and found it empty. What a relief, he thought. But why did he have another dream like that? And why had he managed to go too far this time in his dream? As he pondered over this, he realized what he was going to say to her in his dream. The truth shocked him.

"I love Lightning!"

Inside her room, Lightning sneezed for the third time that night before she shook her head and pulled the blankets over her head. She slept right away.

* * *

**Hahaha! Made ya look! Made ya look! (Gets shot by a machine gun)**

**I'm sorry everyone but I just couldn't resist! It was fun torturing Noctis this way. Please forgive me! Oh and the part where Lightning arrives with lunches for the boys is from the picture that inpsired this story!**

**Anyway, that's it for this chapter. So some more of the other FF cast made their appearance and Noctis learned the truth: he loves Lightning (Victory music plays) No not now!**

**There's still ways to go. I hope you'll stay and read some more. So stay tuned!**

**Until Then…**


	6. Chapter VI: Nautilus

**Disclaimer: ****Okay I see that you guys really enjoyed that last chapter. Heh… *gets hit by a tomato***

**So like I promised, here's the next chapter and let's hope that things will go much better for our heroes, or whatever they are in this story. Especially for Noctis who suffers from a memory loss he had six years ago (see chapter 4) and can't remember his old life. But he doesn't seem upset about it, does he? Hmmm. I wonder why? *glances at Lightning***

**Oh well! Just sit back and enjoy the story! Today on the Farrons' agenda: guess what it is.**

**Relax, and enjoy!**

**Summary: ****Family is one of the many things in life that keeps you steady on your feet. But what if family isn't the only thing that matters? Sooner or later, one must choose.**

**Based on "Bento" the artwork of "halfcrazyme".**

**All For One**

**Chapter VI: ****Nautilus**

Lightning sat on the living room couch with her arms and legs crossed and eyes closed in concentration as if mediating the next morning.

She had refused breakfast when Zack offered some and had decided to brood on the couch instead. Her brothers glanced in her direction once in a while as they ate breakfast. Lightning had been that way for about thirty minutes now, and it was driving Zack insane.

"Damn it, Light! Talk! Move! Do anything that involves you having to move!" Zack yelled from the kitchen. Lightning ignored him and kept meditating. Squall, Cloud, and Noctis watched as she twitched slightly at Zack's loud volume then kept still again. Zack glared at his sister's back and groaned in defeat, returning his attention to his ham and eggs.

Lightning tapped her fingers against her arm impatiently as if waiting for something. If it weren't for her tall figure sitting on the couch in the living room, it would have seemed as if she had not been there at all. Lightning growled to herself quietly, tapping her fingers again. She had been trying to make a decision since last night and today was the day she would have to decide. Her mind was running in overdrive, almost making her dizzy that she had to stop thinking for a while. She completely ignored Zack's loud ranting from the kitchen and stayed in her position.

Later after the table had been cleared, and the brothers retreated upstairs, only Noctis approached Lightning and stared at her closed eyes and stiff posture. She really was beautiful, like an ivory statute of Hera. He shook his head then cleared his throat.

Lightning ignored him. This time he sat beside her on the couch.

This time she opened one eye and glanced him. "What are you doing?" "I just thought I'd join you since you're so quiet. And still." Noctis said. Lightning made a face and went on ignoring him. "What are you thinking about?" Noctis asked. Lightning stared forward blankly for a while. "I was trying to decide." "Decide what?" "If we should visit Serah today." Lightning said. Noctis was taken slightly aback before he smiled at her in understanding. "I see."

"I don't think she might want to see me after what I said to her before she left. But I'm sure she would talk to you and the guys." Lightning said a bit sadly. Noctis shook his head. "No, I'm sure that she will be happy to see you after three months. You _are_ her big sister after all." Lightning was silent again for a second before she looked at Noctis and smiled at him lightly. "Right. I've made up my mind."

Noctis nodded and stood up. "Should I tell the guys then?" "Do that. And remind Cloud to bring extra snacks for Squall in case he tries getting to our travel rations again." Lightning said as she headed for her room.

Noctis smiled after her retreating form and sighed. Of all girls he ended being up with as their brother, he was glad that he was Lightning's, now he appreciated it more than ever. He headed for the stairs to tell his brothers of Lightning's decision. He stopped at Cloud's first and knocked. The blonde took a while to answer, so when Noctis lifted his fist to knock again, he heard voices from inside the room.

"Yeah I know…thank you, it really was nothing. Hey maybe…we could catch up sometime? You know…I really missed you. Yeah. Okay, I see you again around this week. See you, Tifa." Cloud's voice could be heard from inside the room.

Noctis raised an eyebrow. _"Tifa? Tifa Lockhart? The only kid who ever wanted to make friends with Cloud? Why is he calling her at this time?" _Noctis shook his head and knocked again. "Cloud, its Noctis. Open up." This time Cloud answered the door quickly. "What's the matter?" Noctis stepped into his brother's room. "It's Lightning." "What about Lightning?" Cloud asked, raising a brow.

"Lightning's decided that we should visit Serah today." Noctis said.

Cloud's eyes widened with surprise. "She did? Now?" Noctis nodded. "Yeah. She also told me to remind you to pack extra snacks for Squall in case he gets hungry during the drive." Cloud smirked. That sounded just like Lightning to be so responsible. "Done."

Noctis nodded and left the room and headed for Squall's. Squall answered right away after Noctis knocked once. "What is it?" "Lightning's taking us to see Serah today, you should get yourself ready." Before Squall could say anything, Zack's voice interrupted them. "Whoa, seriously? Today? We're really gonna see Serah?" "That's what Lightning said." Squall said, rolling his eyes.

Noctis mentally shrugged. At least he didn't have to tell Zack anymore since he had been pacing around the halls by himself anyway.

In her room, Lightning stared down at the photo album on her lap. She looked at the picture where they had celebrated Serah's sixteenth birthday, the Farrons siblings were all huddled together behind the table and staring at the camera that Zack had put on auto-timer; Zack had given her a plush wolf with pink tinted fur on its back and a red collar around its neck with a yellow lightning bolt as the tag. Serah loved it and said that she loved the representation of the stuffed animal, making Zack smile although Lightning had no idea what it all meant. Squall had given her a white journal with a large blue tear-shaped crystal printed in the middle of the cover. Cloud's present was another plush wolf, this time it was black and slightly bigger than Zack's plush wolf, it also had a collar around its neck with a black storm cloud that was shooting out a black lightning bolt as a tag. Serah had laughed and said that now she had as representation for _both_. Noctis's present was a simple bouquet of Serah's favorite flowers, and a novel titled Howell's Moving Fortress, a book that Serah had wanted to get. Serah loved her brothers' presents, but Lightning had been embarrassed at her present for Serah.

When Lightning took her turn at giving Serah her present, she expected less enthusiasm and maybe a little disappointment. But Lightning really did not expect Serah to jump up and smother her with a huge hug.

Lightning's present was a black leather arm band, the exact same replica of the one that Lightning wore on her right arm above another black arm band that was styled like a belt. Serah had been more than ecstatic and wore the black band on her right arm at all times from that day on. Lightning had been slightly confused since she expected her present to be a complete failure of attempt. But Serah had simply shook her head and said that it was the best present among them all because she would now be able to match with Lightning.

Her brothers had smiled and Lightning felt her face go red with embarrassment at this. But she was glad that Serah _loved _her present.

Lightning turned the page of the photo album and smiled at the next picture. It was when the whole family along with Rinoa, Fang, Vanille, Aerith, and Tifa had gone on camping trip on Pulse. In the picture Squall was snacking on a ham and egg sandwich with Rinoa standing beside him and grinning. Zack made faces at the camera with Aerith giggling beside him while Cloud and Tifa had their backs to the camera, oblivious to the fact that they had also been included in the picture. Fang and Vanille grinned at the camera while Noctis and Lightning argued in the background.

The picture had been taken three years ago. Rinoa and Squall had not started dating yet but they had been good friends, Tifa had gone on the trip with them before she and her family left Bodhum for a while.

Serah had been the one who took the picture.

Lightning smiled gently. When she turned to the next page, there was a picture of her frowning deeply at the camera with Noctis standing beside her and looking away. It had been taken during Lightning's nineteenth birthday when Noctis had given her a large red pouch that Lightning now wears on her left leg everyday when going to work. Serah and Zack had wanted to take a picture of Lightning wearing the new supply pouch on her leg with Noctis standing next to her because he had been the one who gave her the present.

A knock on the door interrupted Lightning's train of thought and she quickly shut the album and slid it underneath her bed.

"Enter." She said. Noctis came in and nodded at her. "The guys are getting ready. You should probably do the same." Lightning stood up and nodded. "Right." Noctis sighed, knowing that there was nothing else to say and left the room.

* * *

After Lightning emerged from her bathroom looking fresh and dressed in a plain white shirt, with a blue polo over it, and dark jeans, she headed downstairs to see Zack laughing at a comedy show on the television with Cloud and Squall rolling their eyes at him. They turned to look at their sister when she came down the stairs.

Noctis came out of the kitchen. Lightning nodded and headed outside.

The Farrons made their way to the side of their house where a bigger metal door was. Lightning walked to the side and typed in a code on a panel that was installed to the left side of the door and the door opened. Zack whistled when the doors lifted to reveal an impressive blue and silver car. "You haven't used this baby in long time, Light."

Lightning shrugged and entered the garage, grabbing the house keys from her pocket. The house key hung on a silver loop beside a second key. Lightning's car key.

Cloud and Squall stared at the blue-and-silver car and felt a sense of nostalgia. Cloud, Squall, Zack, and Noctis had pulled out their savings together to buy Lightning the car for her eighteenth birthday. Serah had been the one to decide what color the car should be and bought the license plate that said 'LIGHT13'.

Lightning's eyes observed the license plate of her car. LIGHT13. Serah had explained to her that she had the plate specially made with the word LIGHT and the number 13 which stood for Lightning and her birthday, May 13. Zack had laughed and said the number 13 should stand for how many times Lightning had gotten herself injured during her first month as one of the Guardian Corps.

Lightning shook her head and unlocked the car.

Zack groaned. "Light that thing has a remote you know! Use it!" From the driver's seat, Lightning rolled her eyes and unlocked the passenger doors of the car from inside. Noctis smirked. Lightning rarely used the car's remote to open or close the doors. The only time she ever used it was to turn on the car alarm whenever they had an outing with the car. But since the car was kept in the garage at home, Lightning never needed to use the remote.

The brothers got into the car just as Lightning started the engine. Before Zack got into the passenger seat beside the driver seat, Noctis cut him off and got in. "Hey! I should get to be the one who sits there." "Why?" Noctis said bluntly. "Because I'm the big brother and you're the adopted one! You sit with Squall and Cloud." Noctis only shrugged and pretended not to hear him. Zack glared helplessly at Noctis then got into the back seat and sat beside Cloud and Squall.

Lightning rolled her eyes and pulled out into the driveway.

The drive was very quiet until Zack began whistling a tune. Squall and Cloud pointedly ignored their brother by looking out of the window on Squall's side. Noctis rested his cheek against his fist and soon fell asleep during the drive. Lightning simply concentrated on the road.

"So Sis," Zack said suddenly breaking the quietness inside Lightning's head, "What made you want to take the plunge so suddenly?" "Hell if I know," was Lightning's only response.

The drive to Serah's would have been considered quiet were it not for Zack's constant whistling and humming of romantic tunes. Lightning resisted the urge to let her left eye twitch at the sound of Zack cheerful love song fest. Beside her, Noctis cracked an eye open and groaned quietly at the cheesy and overly romantic hums that Zack was making. Squall and Cloud would glance at Zack every now and then, wondering why their older brother was making such irritating noises.

"I bet you're all wondering what's got me so hyped up." Zack said.

His siblings finally groaned out loud. Had Zack made all of those noises just to irritate them? "Enlighten us." Noctis said, closing his eyes again. Zack chuckled. "In just two days from now, Aerith and I would already be a couple for four years!" Squall and Noctis stayed silent while Cloud and Lightning and replied in unison with a blunt, "Right."

"C'mon you guys! Aerith and I have been together for that long! Shouldn't there be some cheering for your big brother?" Zack said, staring at the back of Lightning's head with a puppy-eyed expression. Lightning rolled her eyes. "Let it wait until the actually date." Noctis snickered, his eyes still closed in an attempt to fall asleep again.

Squall yawned and nudged Cloud. The blonde sighed and got out a chocolate bar from his pocket and handed it to Squall while making sure to keep the pouch at his side away from his perpetually hungry brother. Lightning had been right to pack extra snacks for Squall.

"I hope you were not planning on getting your hands on that food pouch I handed to Cloud." Lightning said without glancing back. Squall shrugged with the chocolate bar in his mouth. Noctis cracked his eye open again and glanced at Lightning. Even when she was driving she still looked as concentrated as ever. Feeling that she was being watched, Lightning sneaked a look at Noctis, making him close his eye again. She shook her head.

After a while, Lightning began pulling into a familiar driveway. She glared at the house in front of her.

Noctis awoke from his nap and saw Lightning glaring out in front of her. "Lightning?" She jumped slightly and cleared her throat. Zack, Cloud, and Squall looked out and saw the familiar house in front of them. The brothers got out of the car with Lightning staying behind the wheel for a few moments before she grudgingly unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car as well.

"Sure hasn't changed, huh?" Zack said with a smile. The other brothers glanced at Lightning who simply leaned against the side of the car with her arms crossed, looking at the ground. Lightning did not say anything and simply tucked a strand of strawberry-blonde hair behind her left ear.

Zack gestured to his brothers to follow him to the door, knowing full well that Lightning would follow eventually. When they got to the door, Zack was tackled into a large friendly hug before he could ring the bell.

"Zack! Hey how have you been Bro?" A tall young man with the height of 6'2 wearing a black bandana, loose jeans and a muscle shirt chuckled. Zack grinned. "Hey Snow! How have ya been?" Snow Villiers grinned back at Zack. "It's been great! Man, I haven't seen you guys in a long time. When I saw that car pull in I would've thought it was just another car if it weren't for that LIGHT13 license plate!" "Yeah! Light's still keeping both presents; you'd think she would have given them all away." Zack joked.

Lightning glared at the ground and let out a low "Hmph!"

Snow's grin widened as he greeted the rest of the brothers before he finally looked over at Lightning who had stayed in the same position the whole time. "Hey Sis! How are you? I heard that you were the Raid Commander during that whole behemoth incident."

Lightning glared at Snow. "I'm not your sister."

Noctis went over to rub Lightning's shoulder encouragingly. She sighed and gritted her teeth slightly. "I'm fine Snow. How are you and Serah?" Zack snickered at how sarcastic his younger sister sounded when she tried being polite to Snow. Snow grinned at her. "It's going great! I know Serah's gonna be happy to see you again, Light!" He then ran back indoors. "What are you guys waiting for? Come in!"

Lightning crossed her arms. "He is still an idiot." "Go easy on him, Light. You know he's just tryin' to be nice to you. After all, you're Serah's big sister." Zack reasoned. Lightning growled and grudgingly followed her brothers into Snow's house.

It was surprisingly neater than the last time they had seen it. No doubt it must be Serah's doing. Snow had disappeared somewhere upstairs leaving the Farrons to stare and stand around the room. Lightning began pacing the room impatiently while her brothers sat on the couch.

Before Lightning made up her mind to grab one of Snow's trophies that were on the shelf, head upstairs and chunk him in the head with it, hurried footsteps descended down the stairs. It sounded too light to be Snow. Lightning stopped her pacing and looked up. Her brothers did the same.

A younger girl with the familiar color of strawberry-blonde in her hair ran down the stairs and smiled when she saw them. She was wearing a red pleated skirt lined with black lace, a white sleeveless dress shirt, a semi-transparent sweeper; black thigh-high socks, and high sneakers. The girl's hair was tied into a ponytail on the left side of her head, much like how Lightning's hair falls over her left shoulder. "Sis!" The girl cried as she rushed down the stairs and tackled Lightning with a hug. "I missed you!" Lightning smiled as she wrapped her arms around the girl. "I'm sorry Serah. I have been so busy lately."

Serah pulled away and grinned up at her big sister. "All that matters is that you're here now. I'm so glad to see you again, Lightning!"

Serah then turned to her brothers and smiled at them. "Hey Zack! Hi Cloud. Squall, Noctis!" The boys smiled and went over to hug their youngest sibling. Noctis chuckled when Serah caught him in a large bear hug. He loved Serah as his own sister and she loved him as much as a younger sister does to her brother. Noctis patted her head. "How are you Serah? Are you okay by yourself?" "It's been three months, Noct. I think that's more than enough time to let you know." Serah said.

Squall chuckled at this then Serah turned to him. "Hey Squall I've got some sandwiches in the kitchen if you want something to eat." Squall smiled ever so slightly and shook his head. "Maybe later."

Noctis could not help but smile at the similarities between Lightning and Serah. But what he liked most of all was their differences; Serah looked much more happy than Lightning; Serah's eyes were lighter and filled with happiness while Lightning's eyes were a cold and shocking electrical blue; and most of all Serah's hair was tame and tied into a neat pigtail while Lightning's hair was loose and untamed, her bangs would sometimes cover her eyes making her seem more mysterious than usual.

Lightning caught Noctis's stare and raised an eyebrow. "What?" "Nothing." Noctis then looked away.

"I'm really happy that you guys came today," Serah said, "Snow and I were actually planning to go to Nautilus today. Why don't you come with us?" Zack whooped. "Wahoo! I haven't been to Nautilus yet!" Cloud and Squall smiled at their sister and nodded. Noctis chuckled but Lightning said nothing. "That's a great idea!" Snow said as he came down from upstairs, grinning his usual grin. Zack and Snow bumped fists. "Well you know me, Snow! I'd study all day if it would get me a free ticket to Nautilus."

Lightning rolled her eyes. "Sis, you are coming with us, right?" Serah asked hopefully. Lightning mentally groaned. She did not want to go anywhere with Snow hanging around, but it was the only opportunity she had to spend time with Serah again. Noctis elbowed her gently. Lightning sighed. "Yeah. I'm coming."

Serah's smile was blinding as she wrapped her older sister in a huge hug.

Noctis smiled warmly. In all his years as one of the Farrons, he knew how much Serah idolized her older sister and how much she cares for her just as Lightning does for Serah. It always warmed him whenever he saw the two of them bond. When Noctis had first become one of the Farron brothers, he never expected to be loved by Serah just as much. It was like she really was his little sister, a sister he never had in his life. Those days had always made him happy.

Lightning looked over to Noctis's distant expression and found herself staring. She did not deny that her adopted brother was rather good-looking and she would never admit it, but much like with Serah, Lightning grew concerned whenever girls would take a liking to her adopted brother. Noctis was much too gentlemanly and shy to deny a girl's advances without having the girl come all over him first. Luckily no one had ever dared to approach one of the single Farrons; namely Noctis and Lightning herself. Still, Lightning knew it was a matter of time before a girl would take a shine to Noctis or Noctis would find a girl that suited him. Lightning's chest began throbbing, making her flinch.

Serah noticed. "Sis? What's wrong?" Lightning shook her head. "I'm fine." Noctis looked at her worriedly and Lightning simply shrugged.

* * *

Much later, the Farrons and Snow were standing in front of an airship hangar, staring at a large white airship inside.

"Man do I miss this place." Zack said to Lightning. Lightning said nothing in response. Squall, Cloud, and Noctis smiled at the familiar area of the airship hangar. "Hey Zack is that you?" Zack turned and grinned. "Sazh! How've you been?" The dark man with an afro approached the gang and smiled. "Great, great. What about you? I haven't seen you kids around for a while." "Same old, same old." Zack said.

Sazh chuckled then looked at Lightning. "Hey Lightning. Still a rebel I see." "Let me guess… the news?" Lightning said, rolling her eyes. "That's right. You looked really beat up on camera. I gotta admit though, you look a lot better now." Sazh said.

Lightning stared at him. "What? You _saw_ me during the behemoth rampage?" "Sure. Didn't anyone tell you how you looked?" Sazh asked. Lightning growled.

Zack and the others exchanged glances; they all knew that Lightning didn't like being seen in a vulnerable position and having her pride bruised. She did not mind being bruised in the face, but going for her pride was going too far. And dangerous.

"So, what brings you kids here?" Sazh asked. "We were wondering if you could fly us to Nautilus." Serah said. Sazh grinned at them. "Well you all came to the right pilot! Come on."

They followed Sazh into the white airship and sat on the passengers' seat when Sazh gestured to them. "So Lightning, how's your lieutenant?" Lightning shrugged. "How should I know? He kicked out of the base." Zack and Snow snickered, and Serah giggled. Lightning glared at them. "Well, I 'm sure that he a good reason to kick you out, Light." Sazh said. Cloud chuckled. "He did. Amodar kicked her out so she wouldn't get into anymore near-death experiences for a while." Sazh laughed. "Well there you go!" "Hmph!" Lightning grunted.

A light chirping caught everyone's attention and Sazh chuckled. "Oh yeah, I forgot." He reached into his afro and carefully pulled out a tiny bird creature. "A baby chocobo!" Serah squealed. Snow and Zack stared in surprise while Cloud, Squall, and Noctis smirked at the sight of the little bird's tiny wings. Lightning raised an eyebrow.

"I almost forgot to introduce this little cutie to you guys. I bought her for Dajh a month ago, and since I left him with a family friend, Dajh insisted that I bring the chocobo with me." Sazh explained. "That's a really thoughtful kid you've got." Snow complimented with a grin.

The tiny chocobo chirped and hovered out of Sazh's hand and flitted around the visitors. Serah giggled when it hovered to her and chirped in greeting. Next it went to Squall and stared at him curiously before it hovered over to Lightning and landed on her right shoulder. It chirped happily.

Lightning gave the baby chocobo a look. "I think she likes you." Sazh said, grinning. Lightning rolled her eyes and held a hand beside her shoulder for the chick to hop on. It did so gladly and chirped at Lightning happily. Noctis smirked. "You attract even _girls_ with that glare of yours." Lightning growled and handed the bird back to Sazh. The tiny bird protested a bit until Sazh gently cupped it in his hands and allowed it to fly back into his afro.

"Well now that's done. We're off to Nautilus!"

* * *

The flight to Nautilus was rather interesting, Noctis had to admit.

Zack and Snow had cracked up jokes during the flight and in the process, accidentally knocked the back of Lightning's head just as she had fallen asleep, resulting with the two getting bruises in their faces. Serah had to look at it for them while Lightning went back to napping in her seat.

Squall and Cloud occupied themselves by playing rock, paper, scissors for a few minutes until Squall tapped Serah on the shoulder for a snack from the food pouch that Cloud had handed to her.

Noctis simply sat and let his mind wander. When he got tired of daydreaming, his eyes went over to where Lightning sat with her eyes closed. She must have some sort of sixth sense because after Noctis kept his eyes on her for five minutes, she awoke and looked at him. Noctis had blushed and looked away.

Now they had landed in Nautilus and things looked promising.

Sazh's baby chocobo chirped excitedly from the top of his afro as they walked along the excited crowds of the City of Dreams. Serah giggled and let the tiny bird settle on her shoulder for a while. Much to Lightning's discomfort though, the chocobo kept staring at her through tiny beady eyes as if asking if it could ride on Lightning's shoulder as well. Sazh noticed this and laughed.

After a while, Serah and Snow had gone off to try some of the rides, despite Lightning' electrical glare at Snow's back. Zack took Cloud and Squall along with Sazh and his chocobo to the petting zoo. Lightning had refused to come, knowing that if a baby chocobo was interested in her, then a stampede of adult chocobos would surely break out.

Noctis's face turned red when he realized that he was left alone with Lightning.

Why didn't he take up Zack's invitation to go to the petting zoo as well? Lightning did not seem to mind him though. Noctis sighed. "Lightning." "What?"

"I think it would be best if we actually did something around here," Noctis said, "unless you're planning to wait until Serah finishes her rides with Snow." "That was the plan." Lightning said while crossing her arms. Noctis shook his head and sighed. "Fine, if you're going to be that way…" Suddenly, Lightning felt herself being pulled among the crowds by the hand.

Noctis dragged her around Nautilus until they finally stopped at what appeared to be a shooting gallery to Lightning.

"Here's something that I think you'll like." Noctis said. Lightning raised an eyebrow. The adopted Farron gestured to her. "A shooting gallery. It's pretty close to what you like doing, isn't it?" Lightning sighed. "So?" "So, shoot something and have fun doing it." Noctis said as he walked over to one of the staff members of the shooting gallery.

Lightning glared at his back as he paid and turned to Lightning holding a toy pistol. "Well? Aren't you going to shoot something?" Noctis said.

The strawberry-blonde rolled her eyes. Noctis handed her the toy pistol and pointed to the targets that were waiting to be activated. Lightning groaned. "Do I really have to?" "Do you _want_ to sit around bored throughout this whole trip?" Noctis gave back.

Without much choice left on the matter, Lightning took the pistol and aimed. Noctis nodded at the staff member and the targets were activated. Lightning had little trouble aiming and instantly took out one target. Soon Lightning into the rhythm of the game and shot down every target.

Noctis took his turn and did well for someone who wasn't a gun-user. However, when he began missing targets due to the increase in speed. Lightning smirked with amusement when she saw him struggling to get an eye on at least one target. She took hold of his hands and smiled slightly. "You have to keep still and keep cool. Take your time and don't rush."

Noctis watched as she positioned her hands in front of her and he did the same while holding the pistol. After a dew corrections, Lightning nodded. Noctis looked back at the fast-moving targets and aimed. The staff of the shooting gallery seemed to enjoy themselves as they watched the pair take their time with the game.

Noctis aimed and took the shot. He took down a moving target. And then another, and another until they were all down.

The bell sounded and Noctis grinned slightly. He won. Lightning chuckled and then sighed. "Not bad for a beginner." "Well, not everyone can be a soldier." Noctis returned. The pair shared a quiet laugh before they returned the pistol to the staff members and left the area.

They walked side-by-side, Lightning glanced at Noctis and her eyes narrowed.

"What are you playing at anyway?" She asked. Noctis looked at her with surprise. "What do you mean? Is there something wrong with taking your sister out to have some fun?" "No it's just… Why do you even care that much?" Lightning asked. Noctis swallowed nervously; he can never tell Lightning why. "You're my sister, Lightning. It's what brothers do, isn't it?" "Even though you know that you're not really my brother?" Lightning said, surprising Noctis. "Wh-what?" Lightning suddenly regretted it. "Nothing. Sorry, I didn't think."

"Lightning…" Noctis took a few steps ahead of her then turned around, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Look, you have been like my real sister for a long time. But…I-I haven't done anything for you in return yet. So please…just let me thank you for today while we're here. Okay?" Lightning stared into Noctis's dark blue sapphire irises and felt heat rise up to her face. Did he really think that she was that special as a sister? She sighed in defeat, "…fine." Noctis sighed in relief and looked at Lightning, his hands still on her shoulders.

"How about a snack then." He suggested. Lightning shrugged. "Whatever."

* * *

Serah, Snow, Cloud, Zack, Sazh, and Squall headed for the dining area. Snow and Zack were both ecstatic while Zack and Cloud spoke with Serah. The group suddenly stopped short when they spotted Lightning and Noctis sitting at a table, talking.

Lightning was smiling a bit at Noctis as he spoke about something.

Zack looked mildly surprise; it wasn't every day that he saw Lightning and Noctis talking that casually without starting an argument. Serah smiled at the sight and approached the table. "Lightning!" The pair turned and saw the rest of the group coming towards them.

Serah came over to Lightning and hugged her neck. "Did you two actually have fun together?" Lightning cleared her throat uncomfortably and Noctis blushed. "He…made me play around in a shooting gallery." Lightning admitted. The guys turned to Noctis in surprise. "He did?"

Noctis glared at them. "What's so wrong with treating your sister to a little bit of fun?"

Lightning only shrugged and took a bite from the burger on her tray. Squall then leant over to steal a couple of her fries. Snow grinned at Lightning and patted her on the shoulder. "What do you know; Light _does_ have a soft side to her after all." Lightning glared at the hand on her shoulder then at its owner. "Don't touch me." She warned slowly, dangerously. Snow removed his hand right away. Serah shook her head.

"Okay," Sazh said, "so I've gotten us rooms at a hotel here so why don't we go and check it out?" Zack grinned. "You made reservations? When?" "During the flight. I thought maybe you guys would want to relax a bit." Sazh explained.

"Do we ever!" Zack said. Lightning rolled her eyes and Serah giggled.

The group later entered the Nautilus hotel and they found themselves quiet in awe at the inside. It was almost as bright as the outside and pretty big as well.

When they received the card keys to their rooms, Lightning did not waste another breath and headed for her room. When she found it, she slid the card key into the scanner under the doorknob and went inside. Her grumpy mood had returned when she realized that Serah and Snow would be sharing a room. Lightning had half the mind to kill Snow on the spot right there and then.

Sighing, the young soldier got up, deciding that a cold shower would be the best solution for her boiling temper.

Lightning slipped off her clothes and placed them beside the sink. She entered the shower and turned the knob to cold. The chilling droplets made Lightning jump slightly but it help cool her down. She grabbed the hotel's shampoo bottle and lathered her strawberry-blonde hair slowly. The cold water was relaxing to her now that her grumpiness had gone done a bit.

When she got out of the shower stall, she wrapped a large towel around herself.

As she reached out for her clothes, the bathroom door creaked open and Noctis stepped in, holding a towel over his shoulder and his eyes were staring at the floor, deep in thought. Lightning's eyes widened and she yelled, "What the hell are you doing in here!"

Noctis's eyes snapped to look up at Lightning in shock. "What! Why are you— I didn't know you were here!" "Like I'd believe that you freakin' pervert!" Lightning yelled. Noctis glared at her even though he was also blushing. "I did not know you were in here! You expect me to predict your every move? I'm not psychic, Lightning!"

The young soldier glared at him and aimed her fist at him. "Just because you were only adopted it doesn't mean that you can waltz into a bathroom whenever someone's taking a shower! Get out, you damn pervert!" "First of all, I am not a pervert! I told you that I did not know that you were in here already! Second, I did not _waltz _in, I walked! And third, you _just finished_ taking a shower!" He dodged her fists when she threw another set of punches at him.

"Get out!" Lightning yelled until Noctis backed away out of the bathroom and shut the door.

Noctis held a hand to his chest, his face going into different shades of red. He really did not know that his adopted sister was inside the bathroom, but he considered himself lucky that he was still in one piece, especially with the kind of view he had seen and the situation he had been in. He groaned.

Noctis turned and sat on the bed.

He knew that after this, along with the confession with himself the other night, he knew that he really could never see Lightning Farron as his sister ever again.

Today in the shooting gallery, Noctis took the opportunity to prove to himself that we was just imagining his new feelings for Lightning. He had pulled her around the streets of Nautilus, made her enjoy herself a little bit, like a brother was supposed to. But as soon as he saw her smirk, the way she rolled her eyes, the way she taught him how to shoot a fast target, and the way she smiled when he talked to her so seriously, he felt his heart jump every time. And now that he had accidentally walked in on her while she was dressed in nothing but a large towel, Noctis felt as if his chest had exploded.

That was the moment he simply knew; he was in love. In love with the one who argued with him about almost everything and nothing, the same one who brought him and his adopted brothers' lunch whenever they forget, the same one who can throw and million deadly punches and can survive a million deadly punches or worse. In love with the same one he once was happy to call his sister.

She came out of the bathroom fully dressed with her hair still slightly damped and glared at him. "Why are you here anyway?"

"This is my room." Noctis answered simply, showing his card key as proof. Lightning raised an eyebrow at this. "You couldn't share with the guys?" "Sazh and his chocobo are sharing the room with Zack and the guys. So the only room I got left was…yours I guess." Noctis said awkwardly.

Lightning sighed in defeat. "Right."

Noctis watched as she turned on the television and sat on the bed beside him. She looked relaxed now; it seemed that she was no longer upset at him for walking into the bathroom. Noctis mentally sighed in relief. But that still did not help with his heart's thudding in his chest at the sight of Lightning.

How could he possibly go on living under the same roof as her, especially now that his heart refused to look away from her? How could Noctis continue saying how much he appreciated her as his sister when he knew that was in love with Lightning Farron.

* * *

**Done! Finally!**

**You have no idea how long it took for me to arrange this chapter, not to mention that my place keeps getting black outs now a days! That's right folks; I wrote this chapter in the dark with no choice but to wait for the lights to come back on and hope that my laptop would hold out long enough.**

**So how did you like this chapter? Was it good?**

**I had fun with writing the whole bathroom thing; it was in fact, Lightning's torture. I needed to give Noctis some slack after those dreams he had. I could not afford to torture Lightning with wet dreams just yet. **

**All in all, I'm really glad that I managed to finish this chapter, and hopefully I will get the next one done soon.**

**Oh and by the way, the bathroom accident of this chapter was suggested to me by "chromic7sky" from deviantart. I thank you for suggesting this perfect torture for Lightning and I hope I did okay with it and that you enjoyed it! **

**Until Then… **


	7. Chapter VII: Remember

**Disclaimer: ****Thanks for reading my fanfic everyone! I really appreciate it! Now, we continue to go on from where we stopped in Nautilus.**

**Have fun and enjoy reading!**

**Summary: ****Family is one of the many things in life that keeps you steady on your feet. But what if family isn't the only thing that matters? Sooner or later, one must choose.**

**Based on "Bento" the artwork of "halfcrazyme".**

**All For One**

**Chapter VII: Remember**

Sunlight peered through the curtains of the large glass window.

Noctis rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned. He looked up at the digital clock on the wall then up at the bed where Lightning slept. He sighed. Last night while watching the television together in complete silence, Noctis and Lightning had suddenly realized that there was only one large bed in the room and broke out into an argument over who gets to sleep on the floor and who gets to sleep on the bed since neither of them wanted to sleep on the loveseat.

Lightning had said that Noctis should take the floor since he walked into the bathroom. Noctis argued by saying that she owed it to him for him to sleep on the bed for accusing him of something that had not been his intention. Lightning bit back and said that she took care of him, he owed it to _her_. They had argued for quite some time until Noctis realized how much fun he was having by arguing with Lightning. It had made his heart jump excitedly. He'd stopped, gave up, and let her have the bed while he slept on the floor, refusing to have his back end up aching in the morning by sleeping on the loveseat.

The figure on the bed stirred, snapping Noctis from his revere.

Lightning groaned tiredly and turned, pulling the covers over her messy rose-colored hair. Noctis chuckled; Lightning was never much of a morning person, he knew that ever since he came to live with the Farrons. Slowly he got up and stretched.

Noctis stared at the person under the covers and rolled his eyes. How was he going to drag Lightning out of bed when she doesn't want to wake up yet? He paced the room a few times and his eyes never left Lightning. Finally he went up to the bed and dragged the covers off her, she sleepily retaliated by trying to pull it back to her.

"Get up Light Bulb!" Noctis growled. Lightning groaned and blindly reached for the rest of the covers and mumbled in her sleep, "Go away…pervert…" Noctis paused and then glared at her back. Even in her sleep Lightning accuses him of being a pervert. "That's it! Wake up Bulb Head!" Noctis grabbed her shoulders and shook her roughly.

Lightning yelled then her eyes snapped open and glared at the culprit.

"Damn it Noctis!" She then tackled to the floor him and caught him in a headlock. Noctis grunted and tried to pry Lightning's arm away from his neck as the two of them rolled around the floor, struggling, yelling, and hitting each other's heads.

"You know damn well I'm not a morning person you jackass!" Lightning yelled while choking Noctis. He growled and turned them around so that he was now on Lightning's back. "It's your own fault! You called me a pervert in your sleep!" "That's because I had proved that it was true last night!" Lightning bit back as she struggled under his weight. "Get off me, asshole!" "Not until you apologize!"

The struggle continued until there was a knock on the door.

The pair froze and stared at the door before they looked at each other again and glared. They let go of each other and stood up. Noctis went for the door. Zack and the others stood out in the hall. "Good morning, you two!" Zack greeted cheerfully.

Noctis glared at him while Lightning rolled her eyes. "Were we interrupting something?" Sazh asked as he and the others entered the room. Lightning and Noctis both scowled. "No." Cloud and Squall smirked at them when they answered at the same time. Lightning and Noctis realized this and glared at each other again.

"I guess some things never change." Sazh said. Serah watched her older sister and adopted brother, a smile played on her lips.

Once the rest of the Farrons finally managed to drag Lightning and Noctis's glares and fists away from each other, they headed out into the streets of Nautilus again, this time with plans to visit the animals in the petting zoo. Sazh had insisted that they visit there again since Lightning and Noctis were unable to join them the other day.

On the elevator, Noctis and Lightning's eyes connected once again to glare.

Squall rolled his eyes and nudged his sister with an elbow, making her switch her sights to him. Squall shook his head at her. Lightning grudgingly forfeited from the glaring contest between her and Noctis and looked away. Noctis shrugged and stared at the panel of the elevator instead.

The lift stopped and the gang got off at the petting zoo.

Lightning hesitated to take another step forward, realizing that she may be the victim of many chocobos' affections; either because they thought she smelled like gyshal greens or they thought that would be the type of person to play around with big birds. Serah had pull on her older sister's arm a few times to get her to move and follow the others to the corral.

Zack grinned at Lightning. "Man Little Sis, I had no idea you were chocobo-phobic." Lightning glared at him with her fiercest glare.

Sazh's baby chocobo popped out from the afro and began chirping happily.

Almost right away, the adult chocobos turned to look at the group's direction and trotted over. Lightning took a step back as the large birds came to meet them. Noctis raised an eyebrow at the baby chocobo when it hovered out of Sazh's afro.

The chocobos _kwehed _and chirped at their tiny counterpart in greeting. "Did we miss something?" Noctis asked. Sazh chuckled. "You sure did. Little chocobo made some new friends last night when we came up here. Looks like they still remember her." Serah giggled when some of the adult chocobos nuzzled their heads against hers and chirped. She then gestured to Lightning. The older sister made a face and refused to move. Serah sighed and went over to Lightning. "Come on Sis. They won't harm you." "I know that. I just don't want to turn into some…chocobo play thing." Lightning said glaring at the large birds, though they did not seemed bothered by her slight hostility.

The baby chocobo chirped and hovered over to Lightning and landed cheerfully on her head. The young sergeant groaned and reached up to wave away the chick. The tiny bird playfully dodged and landed back on Lightning's head again.

"Get it off my head." Lightning said. Serah chuckled and reached her hand up to the chick. It moved from side to side as if saying no. "I think she likes your head, Lightning." Serah said. Lightning sighed and reached up to grab onto the creature. The chick did not object and allowed Lightning to get her down. It chirped and stared at the electrical blue of Lightning's eyes. "Stop staring at me like that! I don't like playing games with birds!" The chick, although seemed to understand what she was saying, pointedly ignored Lightning's complaint but preening her tiny wings.

"She's adorable, Lightning. How can you say no to that?" Serah asked.

Lightning rolled her eyes and handed the chick to Serah. "Fine, you hold on to it." She then went over to stand beside Cloud who just watched the chocobos and sheep of the petting zoo. "You look a little troubled." Cloud said suddenly, surprising Lightning. "What? What makes you say that?" "You're a little grumpier than usual. Even to a chocobo."

Lightning sighed. "It's nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing." Cloud said. "Since when did you care about what I feel?" Lightning grumbled. "I'm your brother, I always care about what you feel. Whether I'm older or younger than you, I will always care, Light."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I can handle myself." Lightning said before she kept quiet again,

"Say Noctis," Snow said, "what happened with you and Light?" Noctis raised an eyebrow. "What are saying?" "I mean, did anything happen? Lightning doesn't look very…happy." "I doubt she knows the word." Noctis joked slightly.

Snow waited for an answer. Noctis sighed. "The other day when we went on a school trip to Tenebrae, Lightning was fine. But after a while, she became a bit…introverted. At least, more than usual." "Did something happen?" Snow asked. "I don't know… I guess she got a little worried." Noctis said. "About what?"

"In Tenebrae, there was this woman. She thought I was someone that she knew." Noctis admitted. "She knew my name, but I know that I've never seen her before. I think she was only looking for a guy whose name was also Noctis." Snow looked thoughtful. "Maybe Lightning's just jealous…?" He suggested.

Noctis choked on his own breath. "What? What for?"

"Well think about it," Snow said with a grin, "Some random woman comes up and knows your name, even though it might be a coincidence. Don't you think Light might be a little jealous that her favorite brother is in the middle of someone else's attention?" "First of all, it had to really be a coincidence. Second, if Lightning were jealous over her brother she would have been jealous of Rinoa, Aerith, and Tifa too. Be she wasn't. And I'm not her favorite; I'm practically a stranger in the family. I only bear their name." Noctis said.

Snow held his hands up. "Okay, okay. I'm just saying."

"Hey! Snow!" The blonde turned and his eyes widened with surprise. Vanille and the rest of the gang was making their way over. "Hey! Vanille!" Snow called.

Sazh, Serah, and her brothers turned toward the direction of the redhead and her friends. Fang, Rinoa, Aerith, Tifa, and Hope smiled at the Farrons and Sazh. Zack grinned largely and went over to Aerith. "Hey Aerith! What are you doing here?" Zack asked as he picked his girlfriend up by the waist and twirled her around.

Vanille made us come here to have some fun." Tifa answered instead since Aerith couldn't get a word out due to Zack's twirling.

Cloud smiled and made over to Tifa who blushed when she suddenly noticed that Cloud had been standing somewhere on the side. Lightning sighed and approached the others slowly. "Hey kids, long time no see." Sazh greeted. "I see you're still the same as always, old man." Fang said. Sazh pretended to look offended. "Old? _Old_? The last time I checked, I was the best pilot out there!" "Uh-huh. Where have those days gone?" Fang joked.

Lightning watched the others. Hope seemed to be getting along with everyone now; he did not seem that timid when he greeted Sazh. As usual, Vanille was there to help him along. It brought a smile on Lightning's face at Hope's improvement at meeting people.

Noctis glanced at Lightning and opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself. Maybe now wasn't a good time to say anything.

Serah and the rest of the girls exchanged glad comments as they stroked several chocobos on the neck while Sazh's baby chocobo hovered by their shoulders, as if listening in on the conversation. Lightning crossed her arms and stayed put. Rinoa noticed. "Lightning! Hey what's up?" The sergeant shrugged. Fang tsked her. "Now Light, that's no way to socialize" "Who says I wanted to?" Lightning said and moved closer to the group.

Noctis could not help but notice the way Lightning walked; her hips would sway naturally unlike most girls who would purposely try—and sometimes—fail to sway their hips to charm someone of the opposite sex. But not Lightning; she would walk like anyone does but with her hips would be swaying naturally with no false pretenses or any attempt to seduce anyone. What made the whole prospect of it even more perfect was the way that Lightning never even noticed the natural sway of her hips. Vanill, Fang, Serah, and the rest of the girls would sometimes tell Lightning about how her hips would sway sexily, but Lightning just brushed away all of those comments saying that she does not sway her hips.

The sound of someone clearing his throat brought Noctis back to reality. He turned his gaze from Lightning to see Cloud smirking slightly at him.

"What were you thinking about just now?" Cloud asked. Noctis rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Nothing. Just…zoned out, that's all." Cloud did not seem to believe the excuse. "There's nothing wrong with _you_ admitting that _you_ noticed Lightning's hip-swaying." Noctis stared at his younger brother with disbelief, turning red in the face. Cloud shrugged.

"So Light, what did the boys do to make you go all the way out here?" Fang said. Lightning looked away. "Nothing. I just decided to visit Serah, and she just happened to be in the middle of preparing for a trip here." Vanille giggled. "That's really sweet of you, Lightning; deciding to visit your sister and spend time with her here in Nautilus."

Lightning's face tinted pink and she shook her head. "Think what you want."

"Oh we will, we will." Fang threatened jokingly. Serah and Vanille chuckled when Lightning rolled her eyes in exasperation. "It's okay Sis. I won't tell anyone else." Serah said. Lightning looked at her then a ghost of a smile appeared on her lips, a smile that only Serah and her brothers knew was there.

* * *

"You can't be serious." He said.

"I'm not joking; I know that what happened was real. There were others too." She said, determined not to be told otherwise. "Hey look, we all know how important how important he was to you and all of us. But we have no choice but to face that he's no longer with us." A second man said. "But that does not mean that he really is gone from this world. Yes it's true that he's not with us, but he is still in this world. He's alive, and he's with others! I know it!"

"Didn't you say that he told you it was only a mistake?" A third man joined in. She shook her head. "No, I know it's him. How can anyone else look like he does? Why are you guys so sure that he really is dead?"

"He couldn't be found, Stella!" Stella took a step back when the first man shot up from his seat and slammed his hands on the table. "We all know how important he was to us, but how can he still be alive after what happened, especially with all those searches for him?"

Stella frowned. "Stop being so negative, Jared!" Jared sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Stella…even if it is Noctis, how can we be sure that he remembers us? You did say that he thought you were looking for someone else, and that he was with others."

"He's right, Stel. It could just be a look-alike." Stella looked at the man with a scar on his face and sighed. "Neil, it's him. I know that it is. Felix, you have to believe me!" A man with curly blonde hair sighed sadly. "I-I want to, Stella."

Neil then placed a shoulder on the blonde woman's shoulder. "Don't worry Stella. I'm sure that it might be him. But we can't just rush in and say that he is one of us."

Stella nodded. "You're right. All we have to do now is wait."

* * *

Cloud smiled as Tifa ran back to him and handed him a vanilla ice cream cone. "What do I need this for?" Cloud asked. "You need a little sugar in you, Cloud. It might help wake you up a bit." Tifa said with a smile as she licked her chocolate ice cream.

Cloud chuckled and took a bite of the cold treat.

He enjoyed being in Tifa's company; she had been the only one who attempted to strike a friendship with him. Cloud would never forget the day that Tifa first approached him while smiling and asking what his name was. Cloud had been surprised at this but he had let her have her way, thinking that she would just forget him tomorrow. But she never did. In fact, Tifa Lockhart kept coming back to ask Cloud if he wanted to hang out. From that time on, Cloud trusted Tifa more than any of the other students.

His siblings had accepted Tifa right away and allowed her to drop by whenever she liked. Even Lightning seemed to take a shine to Tifa's upbeat and gentle personality, although her face did not show it, as usual.

The sound of Tifa giggling brought Cloud back to the present. He looked at her, puzzled. Tifa reached up and wiped her hand at the corner of his mouth. Cloud froze. "You have a bit of ice cream there." Tifa said then removed her hand.

He blonde Farron blushed and cleared his throat. "Thanks." Tifa smiled warmly at him warmly. "Don't mention it."

Cloud continued to lick his ice cream until he noticed Lightning approaching with her phone in her hand, looking dejected. "What's wrong?" Cloud asked. Lightning lifted her eyes to look and him and sighed. That seemed to be the only response that he would get from her, Cloud thought. Tifa looked at Lightning and waved her hand in front of the soldier's face. "You okay?" Lightning nodded. "Lieutenant Amodar still refused to let me back in tomorrow." Cloud shrugged. "Figures."

Just then, Vanille and the others came running at them. Noctis was among them but he did not look hyped for someone who had just rode on the Nautilus rollercoaster. Squall and Cloud simply looked a little dizzy and tried their best not to show it.

Vanille and the rest of the gang looked more active and excited. "Oh, you guys missed the best ride ever!" Vanille said. Fang nodded. "Yeah, it was real fast and it gets you going." "Boy, I'll say." Sazh said. His chocobo chick popped out of his hair and chirped in agreement before vanishing into its makeshift nest. Snow and Zack laughed while telling Cloud and Tifa about the ride. Serah, Sazh and Hope were still recovering from their excitement from the rush while on the rollercoaster.

Lightning eyed Noctis; he did not look like he was going to throw up. Instead he looked like were about to fall asleep on the spot.

"What's with you?" Lightning asked when Noctis was close enough to hear her. He shook his head. "Nothing." "It doesn't look like nothing." Lightning said, crossing her arms. Noctis glared slightly. "Think what you want. I'm just a little tired; I've never rode on a rollercoaster before." "Right."

Noctis suddenly noticed the cell phone in Lightning's hand. "Called Amodar?" "Yeah." She answered. "He said no?" "…he did."

Noctis chuckled lightly at Lightning's dejected expression and slowly ruffled her hair.

"It's all right. He'll let you back in soon. After you've had your fun." Lightning sighed at Noctis's comment and glared at the ground. Noctis chuckled lightly and pat Lightning's head, much to her annoyance. "Stop that." "Why? Afraid that you might go bald?" Noctis said, earning a glare from Lightning.

"Hey everyone, wanna head for the food court, I heard they opened a new place!" Vanille chirped. Zack and Snow whooped while Serah, Sazh, and Fang nodded. Squall, Cloud, Noctis, and Lightning all shrugged nonchalantly.

As the gang made their way through the crowds and passing, many shop windows, Noctis suddenly froze.

He took several steps back and looked into an accessory shop window. A silver ring with a strange and unique-looking crest carved on it. Strange, why did he react to such a trivial object? Noctis narrowed his eyes and took a closer look at the strange ring. The crest made the ring look very important; it was the carving of a shield with a sword standing upright in front of the shield.

Noctis shook his head. What was so strangely special about this trinket at the window?

"_**It's special thing."**_

Noctis's eyes widened. A voice in his head? It sounded familiar, yet he knew that he did not know the owner of the voice. So why was it playing in his mind? It happened again, but this time, more voices could be heard.

"_**This represents the family. Do you want one too?"**_

"_**Yes, please!"**_

The kind voice chuckled fondly._** "You will, one day. I promise, when you are older, you will have one just like ours."**_

"_**Thank you! I promise that I will look after mine when I get it!"**_

"_**We know you will."**_

Noctis shook his head then looked back at the ring behind the store window. What did it mean? Why was it so special?

"Noctis." He turned and saw Lightning approaching. "Are you okay? You look…" "I'm fine, Lightning. Don't worry." Noctis smiled at her and patted her shoulder, glanced at the ring carefully one last time and went after the others.

Lightning stayed rooted on the spot as he walked away.

She looked into the store window and saw the object he had been staring at; a silver ring with a unique crest carved onto it. Lightning's eyes dropped to the ground and she felt her heart fall. Something was wrong, and she knew it. She took another careful look at the ring and her chest began throbbing painfully.

* * *

Everyone gathered around Sazh's airship, ready to return to Bodhum after their fun in Nautilus.

"Well, ready to go back?" Sazh asked. Everyone nodded and they boarded. Noctis kept looking over his shoulder worriedly. Where was Lightning? Why wasn't she here with them?

"Wait. Where's Lightning?" Noctis asked. Zack looked at him then at the streets. "Maybe she needed to take a breather first? I'm sure she's okay, Noct." "Don't worry, we'll wait for her first." Sazh reassured. Noctis shook his head; he could not wait.

"I'll go look for her!" He said and ran back down the ramp of the airship.

He ran down the street that he was sure was the last one he's seen Lightning standing. He rushed past the crowds, his eyes scanning for any signs of the familiar rose tinted color of hair.

"Lightning!" He called. He could not see her although the streets were not that crowded. "Lightning! Lightning where are you!" Noctis changed directions and ran for the Nautilus Park. No one was there, but maybe Lightning was. He kept going until his eyes caught sight of strawberry-colored tresses flying slightly with the wind.

Lightning was sitting on the park's bench, her head in her hands and her back hunched over. She seemed troubled. Noctis grew worried. "Lightning!"

When she did not respond, he ran closer to her.

Lightning however, never noticed him there. She suddenly stood up, as if remembering something then was soon crashed into the ground. She landed on the ground on her back with a grunt. She froze and felt a heavy weight on her body. Lightning's face burned.

Noctis gasped when he realized what had happened. His face lay on Lightning's chest, and his hands were pinned above hers. He pushed himself off her and stared down at the soldier. Lightning stared back up at him in shock and disbelief. She was lying underneath Noctis with her arms pinned above her head with Noctis's, and his face had been against her chest.

Noctis felt his heart pump in his chest and he quickly got off her. As he stood back upright, he was punched in the face.

"Damn it Noctis! You _are _a freaking pervert!" Lightning yelled at him, her eyes piercing through the adopted Farron. Noctis held his cheek. "Lightning, I was looking for you. Everyone's already waiting in the airship, we have to go. You can't blame me and it was an accident!"

Lightning suddenly looked shamed. "Sorry." She then headed toward the direction where the airship was waiting.

Noctis watched her, feeling his eyes widen. She had apologized for punching him, she never did that before. Still, he could feel something was tormenting Lightning. She had seemed upset a while ago. Deciding that he would ask her later, Noctis followed after her.

* * *

**Well there you have it! Sorry if you had waited too long. As usual, college is my reason. *sigh* soo tired all the time.**

**Anyway, I hope you like this one. I'll work the next chapter as soon as I have the time. As always, please review and tell me what you think. Any suggestion is fine and let me know.**

**Until then…**


	8. Chapter VIII: Time

**Disclaimer: ****Okay so I have been away for a while. But I really had to study! Not only that, our place had a black-out and the electricity had been out for two days! Only at daybreak today did the electricity come back on! Whew!**

**Okay, so thank you all for reading my story, I'm glad that you all found it interesting to read. I was kinda nervous about it. And I wanna give a special thanks to a good friend of mine; nicegal1 thanks for reading and reviewing my story! I really appreciate it! Oh and keep up with the art, they're great!**

**Summary:**** Family is one of the many things in life that keeps you steady on your feet. But what if family isn't the only thing that matters? Sooner or later, one must choose.**

**Based on "Bento" the artwork of "halfcrazyme".**

**All For One**

**Chapter VIII: Time**

Lightning sighed and laid her head on her study desk. It had now been a week since she and her brothers had taken their exams and a month since their trip to Nautilus. During those times, Lightning had finally managed to convince Amodar that she was once again fully healed and ready to go on duty, much to Lightning's own internal delight.

Amodar had been more than happy to let Lightning back on the field after he had seen how well she had recovered from the behemoth attacks, though he made sure to keep the young soldier busy with guard duty at most times, just in case.

Lightning groaned and sat upright again. She stared at the letter on her study desk and sighed. It seems that Serah had thought that a nice family reunion would make things more exciting, so the younger Farron sister had sent a letter to the relatives saying to meet at Lightning's place tomorrow morning at ten.

Lightning shook her and smirked. Serah always did have a way with planning something when it concerns the family. The second-born Farron looked down at the letter; it was a response to Serah's invitation. Lightning read it again.

_Dear Éclair,_

_We had just received Serah's letter last night and frankly, we were surprised at the sudden invitation. I take it that Serah had planned all this while you had not been paying attention. She always did have a way with the family, just like Uncle. _

_I talked about this with the others; they agreed to come with me and visit you and the boys. How are they by the way? Are they still getting into fights at times, and is Noctis still living with you? I remember watching the recent news about you and the Guardian Corp; I know that your injuries are fully healed now. You always did recover fast even when we were younger. Do you remember the time we were running in the park and you broke your arm when you climbed a tree? Uncle and Aunt were very worried at that time, but to our surprise, you recovered very quickly. I suppose that you had decided to take advantage of this by joining the Guardian Corp._

_With that all said and done, I would like to let you know that I had sent a letter to Serah as well about our visit. She had written back right away._

_Knowing you, however, I don't expect an answer to this letter; instead I will be getting a response once I see you tomorrow morning. The others will also be looking forward to seeing you and your brothers, and of course Serah. How is she doing by the way? Is that idiot treating her right? He had better be, otherwise I would not be so forgiving._

_I will be seeing you soon, Éclair. Take care of yourself._

_Sincerely, _

_Your cousin._

Lightning smirked; she and her cousin thought alike in some ways, including the way they think of Snow. As she looked back at the conclusion of the letter, she remembered how her cousin would not bother putting her name in whenever she wrote to Lightning. But when it came to Serah, she knew that it was different.

Lightning stood up and made her way downstairs.

She was alone in the house; Zack, and Squall had gone out on separate dates with their girlfriends, while Cloud had gone over to Tifa's. Noctis, however, had gone off to who-knows-where.

Lightning rubbed her temple tiredly. During her six years of guarding what was left of her family made Lightning feel so stressed out. The only way she ever managed to de-stress was when she was out in the field, getting her hands dirty with monster blood or simply knocking some sense into a bunch of ruthless street gangs. But today, she had the house all to herself. And it was boring.

Lightning paced the living room several times before she went into the kitchen. She grabbed a box of cereal from the cupboard, poured it into a bowl then grabbed the milk from the fridge and poured it on the cereal. She began pacing again while she ate her cereal. Soon the bowl was emptied and left in the kitchen sink. Lightning sighed and sat on the couch, turning on the television.

The shows were boring; soap operas, documentaries, cook shows, old movies that no one might even know about, and shopping channels.

Lightning groaned in frustration and turned off the television. Her chest suddenly ached, making her cringe. "Noctis you moron. The least you could do is stay and be a punching bag." She grumbled under her breath. She shook her head as if she had thought of something absurd.

Getting to her feet, Lightning headed for the garage.

Once she was in the large space if her garage, she decided to practice her punches. It took some of the stress out of her, but not enough. She was now sweating and panting as she moved back and forth, left and right, throwing punches and kicks into the air.

Lightning suddenly paused and sighed. She looked over at the empty space of the garage where her car should have been. Then again, she was glad that she had, leant the car to Squall for his date instead of Zack. Etro knows what could have happened if she did. Bored of throwing punches, Lightning went back inside the house and found herself pacing in the living room again. She growled to herself for being so bored. There was literally nothing to do inside the house, but there no place out of the house for Lightning to visit either.

When Lightning was sure that she had reached the point of being bored to tears, she heard the front door opening. She groaned and went to see who was at the door.

Noctis locked the door behind him and shifted his right arm where a white plastic bag hung. He noticed Lightning watching him rather blankly as he entered the living room. "Why are you back already?" She asked him grumpily. Noctis looked at her with slight surprise. "Are you disappointed that I'm back?" "No, now that you're here I can use someone as a punching bag." Lightning said, looking away. Noctis smirked at this. "So, you were bored when everyone left." Lightning growled quietly but Noctis heard it. "You just can't admit it, can you?"

Lightning sighed in defeat. "Fine. But this is all you're getting out of me."

Noctis then remember the plastic bag. "I almost forgot; I went out to get us some sandwiches," He handed her one of the sandwiches from the bag, "here." Lightning stared at the snack blankly then sat down on the couch. "Thanks…" "Are you all right? You look tired." Noctis said. Lightning shook her head. "I'm fine. Don't sweat it."

Noctis watched as Lightning started biting into her sandwich slowly.

Lightning felt strange. Her heart was beating against her chest, she was sure that if Noctis listened carefully he would hear it for sure. Why? What was she getting herself into? Sensing his adopted sister's tension, Noctis placed a hand on her shoulder worriedly. "Are you sure you're all right? You look a little pale." Lightning snapped back to reality and looked at her companion. "It's nothing, really. I'm just tired. I've been thinking too much lately that's all."

"Hey Lightning," Noctis started, "what do you think it would be like to feel many things at once?" Lightning looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking?" "No reason, I was just wondering. I've been thinking a lot lately as well. I thought maybe you might be feeling the same things I was when your mind wanders. Apparently you didn't feel a thing, as usual." Lightning knew he only meant for it to be a joke, but she still could not help but to feel stung at the words.

"For your information, I felt things while thinking." She retorted, refusing to let her pride be bruised. Noctis crossed his arms and looked at her challengingly. "Oh really? Like what, Bulb Head?"

Lightning glared at him. "For one, I was feeling bored while I was thinking about what happened these past few days, I was feeling tired while trying to figure out why I actually allowed Squall to drive my car on his date though I know that its much safer to let Squall drive than Zack." Noctis let out a laugh. Lightning felt her face burning and grumbled under her breath.

"Okay, I'll let you off the hook for now." Noctis allowed with a chuckle.

Lightning rolled her eyes. "Whatever." "I know," Noctis said nonchalantly. The two continued to eat their sandwich in silence until Lightning spoke again. "You've been…a bit different since that time in Nautilus." "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to seem as if I wanted to push you away. I was just…" Noctis trailed off, not entirely sure what he was sorry for.

His adopted sister shook her head. "No. I'm the one who should be sorry."

Noctis looked at her, clearly surprised. "For what?" "For ignoring you when you needed someone to talk to. Since the first time you became a part of this family until now." Lightning said quietly, not able to believe that she was actually saying all this. "You know," he started, "this is the second time you actually apologized to me, and for no reason." He smiled at her and Lightning looked away to hide her red face. "It wasn't for no reason. And call me Light. You've never called me that."

"I did once." Noctis reasoned. Lightning turned her blue eyes back at him. "_Once_. But that was the only time you ever called me Light."

When she looked away from him again, Noctis could not help but smile at her. He cleared his throat and touched her shoulder. Lightning glanced at him and he slid an arm around her shoulders. "Come here, Light." He whispered warmly. Lightning moved slowly and leaned against her adopted brother's shoulder. Noctis rubbed her arm comfortingly and placed a small kiss on the top of her head.

Lightning sighed. Noctis laid his head on top if hers and frowned to himself. _"If I wasn't supposed to be your brother, I would have at least had a small chance to be closer to you than I am right now."_

"The cousins are coming over this week you know that?" Lightning said suddenly said. Noctis snapped from his thoughts. "What?" "The cousins are coming over." Lightning repeated, getting up from the couch. The adopted Farron scratched the back of his head and groaned. "Let me guess, Serah?" Lightning did not answer. "I see. How soon are they going to arrive here?" "Knowing them? Maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." Lightning said with a small chuckle.

Noctis smirked. "What do you feel like doing in the meantime?" Lightning glanced at him with a somewhat mischievous glint in her eyes. "Come with me." She then led Noctis into the garage.

* * *

Cloud laughed as Tifa wiped off the whipped cream from the side of her face and glared at him. "That was really polite of you, Cloud."

The blonde shrugged. "You wanted to share the cake with me." "Yeah, share it not start a food fight." Tifa retorted; she was having a difficult time keeping a smile from her lips. Cloud noticed at ruffled her hair. "Thank you, Tifa." "For what?" She asked curiously. Cloud smiled warmly and answered, "For actually wanting to be my friend when no one else but my brothers and sisters did."

Tifa blushed. "You're welcome, I guess. And thank you for being my friend too, Cloud."

The spiky-haired Farron chuckled. "Why thank me? There were plenty of kids who were hanging around you all the time." "Yeah but they aren't considered as friends, Cloud. Friends are supposed to stay together no matter what and not put others down. Friends help you get through tough times and never abandon you." Tifa said. Cloud stared at the dark-haired girl. She really was unique.

Tifa was beautiful, no doubt about it. And everyone, male and female, mostly male wanted to be near her all the time. They admired her, adored her. But Tifa was as kind and gentle as a lamb; she did not care if she was popular or not, she did not judge people or treat them like dirt. She was caring and kind to people, including Cloud.

The blonde smiled when he recalled the first day he met Tifa.

_Seaside city of Bodhum_

_Bodhum Park_

_Eleven years earlier_

_Cloud was glad that his family had decided to take a break and spend time together in the park. His parents had been so busy lately that he and his siblings had not been able to spend time with them. Now as he played blitzball with Squall, Zack, and Serah, Cloud found himself grinning widely. He rarely got the chance to play like this with them. However, young Éclair chose to stay out of the game and ride the swings instead._

_Cloud, after being told so by his parents, made sure that he and his brothers did not play too hard with Serah since she was only five years old._

_They had been playing together until Zack had kicked the ball so hard that it flew over Squall's head and out of sight. "Nice going, puppy-brain!" Squall yelled at Zack. The eldest brother scowled at his younger sibling. "I did not do it on purpose!" "Don't worry! I'll find it!" Serah volunteered and ran off to find the blitzball. Cloud watched her leave then decided to follow._

_Serah searched for the ball until she found it rolling to a stop beside a tree. The strawberry-blonde girl ran for the ball but then stopped short when someone else picked it up._

_A boy that looked around her brother Zack's age held the blitzball in his hand. "Hey! Look what I found!" He called out. Several other boys, only around her brothers' age came forward. "Wow Johnny! You found a blitzball!" One of them said. Serah spoke up timidly. "Excuse me? That's my ball."_

_The older boys looked at her then at the ball. _

"_You're ball? You're a girl! Girls don't play with blitzballs!" Johnny said, taunting the youngest Farron with the object in his hands. "Give it back!" Serah cried, trying to reach for the ball. "It's my big brothers'; we're playing with the ball!" She jumped in an attempt to grab the plaything from the boy's hands. Johnny suddenly changed tactics and threw the ball toward the other boy's direction. "Catch it, Tommy!" Johnny said._

_Tommy caught the ball and held it over his head just as Serah reached for it. "Give it back you bully!"_

"_She called you a bully, Tommy!" The third boy said and laughed. "Shut up Sammy!" Tommy yelled in his defense. The boys passed the ball to each other while Serah tried to grab it back, until she tripped and fell on her knees. She let out a pained cry. Johnny laughed. "See? I told you girls can't play with blitzballs!" "Yeah that's right you girlie cry-baby!" Tommy said, laughing at the defenseless girl as well._

_As the three boys laughed, Johnny suddenly felt himself being shoved into his friends, dropping the blitzball in the process._

_Serah stopped crying and looked up to see her older brother Cloud standing beside her. "Cloudy!" Cloud glared at the boys as he helped his younger sister up. "Are you okay, Serah?" Serah nodded. "They did not want to give me back the ball so I tried to get it but I fell down." Cloud picked up the ball and handed it to Serah. "Give to Zack, okay?" He instructed. Serah nodded but did not move from the spot._

_Johnny glared at Cloud. "You stupid kid! Why did you do that?" Cloud glared back at him once more. "You hurt my little sister, wart-face!" The three bullies gasped at the insult and Johnny stepped forward then shoved Cloud back. "You're stupid! And you're small!" "Yeah!" His friends chorused. Cloud shoved Johnny back harder, making the boy fall on his backside. Serah became nervous and clutched the ball to her chest._

_Johnny stood up and he and his friends ganged up on the blonde._

_Tommy hit Cloud in the head while Sammy kicked his legs. Johnny joined in, pounding his fist on Cloud's back. Serah screamed. "Stop it! Leave Cloudy alone!" She tried pounding the ball against Tommy's back but the bully shoved her aside._

_Serah felt her knee throb with pain again. She quickly stood up and ran away with the ball in her hands._

_When Serah returned to their picnic spot, she found Éclair picking small flowers nearby with Zack trying to block the path of a grasshopper a few feet from Éclair with Squall watching. Serah dashed toward her elder sister and cried. "Claire! Zacky! Squally!" Éclair instantly turned away from the flowers and looked at Serah. "Serah why are you dirty?" The youngest Farron sobbed. "I went to get the ball because Zacky hit it too hard, then these bullies came and made me fall down. Then Cloudy came and the bullies started hitting him!" Serah cried loudly and buried her face against her older sister._

_Zack and Squall, who had been listening, looked at each other in surprise the looked back at Serah. _

"_Serah, where are the bullies?" Squall asked. Serah placed the ball down on the grass and headed back to the direction of Cloud and the bullies. Zack, Squall, and Éclair ran behind Serah toward the scene until they saw their brother being beaten up and fighting back. "That's them!" Serah pointed._

_Éclair was the first to run to Cloud. "Hey! You stupid boys! Stop hurting my brother!"_

_The bullies paused and looked at Éclair. Sammy then noticed Serah standing at a safe distance. "Snitch!" He yelled at her. Éclair glared then hit the boy in the face. Sammy fell on his backside, crying and holding his nose. "She hit me! She hit me!"_

_Johnny and Tommy took their attention away from Cloud and turned to Éclair. "Dumb girl! You are not s'pposed to hit!" Tommy said._

_Zack moved forward and kicked Tommy's legs. "Don't bully my sister!" Soon Zack and Éclair were exchanging hits from the bullies while Squall, Cloud, and Serah could only watch. But Cloud soon decided that he had had enough and rushed into the fray. Squall and Serah joined in as well._

_They were all screaming and calling each other names until someone yelled at them. "Stop it! Stop fighting!"_

_The children paused and looked toward the direction of the voice. A young brunette around Cloud's age ran towards them. "Tifa!" Tommy said. The three boys stepped away from the Farron brood and looked at the new girl. "Tifa it wasn't are fault you know!" Johnny said. The dark-haired girl called Tifa shook her head. "Nuh-uh! I saw what you did! You were being mean to the girl and then you started beating her big brother!"_

"_He started it, Tifa!" Sammy cried in defense. "No he did not!" Tifa said. "Did too!" Johnny argued. "Did not! And I'm telling your moms that you beat other kids and tired to take their toys!" Tifa threatened. The trio froze. "You're lying! You can't do that!" Tommy objected. Tifa moved away slightly, threatening to really tell on the bullies. The three were suddenly shaken. Tifa paused for a moment then moved back into the direction from where she had appeared. The trio yelled, "Wait!"_

_The brunette stopped and looked at the boys. "If you bully other kids then I'm not your friend anymore."_

_Cloud watched in quiet fascination at the girl that ran into the scene all of a sudden. She was cute; her coal-black hair went just passed her shoulders and her eyes were the color of red wine. He watched as the girl scolded the boys until they retreated. "I don't want to be friends anymore," she said, "You are all bullies!" The trio looked at each other and gave up. They turned on their heels and ran back to find their mothers._

_The brunette turned to the Farrons._

"_I'm so sorry." She apologized with a little bow. Serah smiled at the new stranger. "That's okay! My big brothers and sister are tough, and me too!" Zack puffed his chest out proudly at this. "Yeah, that's right!" Éclair frowned at her older brother and Squall shrugged._

_Cloud stared at the girl named Tifa until she looked at him. She smiled at him warmly and pulled a handkerchief from her dress's pocket, and to Cloud surprise, wiped away the dirt and small trace of blood from his face. "I'm sorry that they beat you up. I never liked them anyway." She said. _

_Tifa then turned to Serah and tied her handkerchief around the youngest Farron's left knee._

_Serah smiled gratefully. "Thank you. I'm Serah, and they are by big brothers and sister." Zack pitched in next. "I'm Zack! I'm the eldest and the coolest in my family." Tifa giggled at this. Squall nodded at her. "Squall. And that's my older brother Cloud." Cloud stood still when Tifa looked at him again. Zack looked at Éclair. "Aren't you gonna introduce yourself?" Éclair shook her head and looked away shyly. Much like Cloud, Éclair was shy and cautious towards strangers, including other kids._

"_My name's Tifa. Nice to meet you!" Tifa introduced herself then bowed at them. _

"_I have to go now…" She hesitated. The Farrons were so fascinating to her that she was reluctant to leave them now that she knew their names except for the older sister's. Suddenly Zack spoke. "Hey do you wanna play with us? It'll be our thank you present to you."_

_Tifa blushed and fidgeted. "Um…I don't know…it might be rude… Can I really?"_

_Zack nodded. "Yeah! Anyone who helps by baby brothers and sisters are friends." Cloud was becoming nervous every second and embarrassed the more Zack talked. Just then, Tifa smiled and nodded. "Okay! I'll play with you!" Zack and Serah whooped excitedly while Éclair and Squall headed back to the picnic spot to retrieve the ball._

_While Tifa had played with his siblings, even Éclair, Cloud moved away to sit on one of the benches, away from the fun._

_Tifa noticed and excused herself form the game and approached Cloud. "Don't you wanna play too?" She asked. Cloud shook his head. "They can play without me, its okay." To Cloud's surprise, Tifa sat beside him and smiled. "Do you wanna talk?" "About what?" Cloud asked. Tifa giggled. "I don't know anything!" Cloud thought for a while. "Umm…do you like ice cream?" "Yeah! I like chocolate ice cream, what about you?" Cloud smiled. "I like vanilla flavored ice cream."_

_They had talked and played together for a long while until much later, someone came calling for Tifa, making the little brunette turn the other way._

_A tall man with dark hair came walking into their direction. Tifa smiled. "Papa!" The Farrons stopped playing and observed the man who was coming their way. The adult walked to Tifa and looked at her. "There you are. Why did you run off like that? Your mother and I were really worried." He did not sound angry to Cloud. But the blonde kept silent._

_Tifa smiled at her father. "I was playing with my new friends! See?" She gestured to the Farron brood as they slowly began to gather around Cloud._

_The man looked a little suspicious of the Farron children then turned to his daughter again. "That's nice, Tifa. But we have to go home now." Tifa pouted. "Aww! But Papa! I did not see their mom and dad yet!" She protested. Her father sighed. "Okay then, we'll wait until their parents get here." Tifa jumped up happily and turned to the Farrons._

"_I get to play with you a little longer!" She said. Zack grinned. "Great! C'mon let's go see who can swing the highest!" Cloud and Tifa followed behind the rest of the Farrons toward the swings while Tifa's father sat on the bench and watched the kids as they played._

"_Éclair, Zack! Squall, Cloud, Serah!" The Farrons paused and saw their parents coming towards them._

_Serah quickly jumped off from her swing and ran to her mother. "Mommy! Guess what? We have a new friend!" "Really? And who is this friend of yours, Sweetie?" Their mother asked while their father chuckled. Serah grabbed her parents' hands and pulled them over to the swings._

_Tifa was a little shy around the new adults but she managed to bow her head and introduce herself. "My name is Tifa, Miss." She said with a shy smile. The mother Farron smiled at the girl. "So nice to meet you Tifa. Are you having fun?" The little brunette nodded. "So where's your parents, little one?" The father Farron asked. Tifa pointed to her father on the bench._

_Noticing that his daughter's playmates' parents have arrived, Tifa's father approached and shook hands with the Farron children's parents. "I hope that it wasn't too much trouble for my daughter to play out here with them for so long." _

"_Not at all. The children really seem to like her." The father Farron said._

_While to adults talked, Tifa exchanged reluctant goodbyes with her new friends. "Well, I think I have to go home now." Serah nodded a bit sadly. "You'll remember us, right Tifa?" Tifa nodded. "Of course I will! You guys are my new friends!" Cloud looked at the brunette sadly; she was leaving now, and he might not ever see her again. Still, he was glad that he had met someone who truly wanted to be his friend._

_Tifa took her time saying goodbye to Cloud. I made the spiky-haired boy feel special. "I'll miss you Cloud. I wish that we could play and talk some more." Tifa said sadly. Cloud smiled and, to Tifa's surprise and his own, he hugged her. "I'll miss you too Tifa. Thank you for becoming our friend." Tifa smiled back as she walked away hand-in-hand with her father._

_Just then, as Tifa and her father were almost too far away, Éclair ran forward and called out, "My name's Éclair!" _

_Tifa glanced over her shoulder and smiled. Now she had the older sister's name._

_Cloud had been so disappointed when Tifa had left that he brooded up in his bedroom when they got home. He hadn't come down for dinner that night, either; he knew the next day was a school day and that he would be made fun of by the other kids again._

_When the Farron brood had gone off to school the next day, other children were quick to bully Cloud about his hair and his height._

_Squall had blocked his older brother from the sights of the bullies but that did not stop the harsh teasing. When it got out of control, Éclair and Zack had no choice but to step in and do some bullying back. This landed the two eldest Farrons in the principal's office along with the bullies they fought against._

_Cloud had gone to sit against a tree away from the rest of the children to sulk._

_It was then that someone has approached and asked him what was wrong. Cloud had buried his face against his knees and refused to answer. The person kept asking what was wrong until Cloud slowly lifted his head to look at the intruder. His eyes widened when he did._

_Tifa Lockhart stood there with her eyes also widening when she realized who he was._

"_Cloud! It is you!" She exclaimed happily and hugged him, surprising the blonde boy. Tifa pulled away and grinned. "I didn't know you were going to this school. Where's your brothers and sisters?" She asked._

_Cloud explained to her about what had happened earlier that day and how his eldest brother and sister had landed in the principal's office. Tifa smiled encouragingly at him and held her hand out to him. "They will be fine! C'mon let's go and wait for them inside!_

_Cloud grinned as he took Tifa's hand realized that he did have at least one friend after all._

* * *

Noctis found himself on his back on the floor of the garage.

Lightning stared down at him, her fists ready in front of her. Noctis stood up and readied his own fists. The two glared at each other and stood their ground. They counted the seconds before the bent their backs and lunged at each other.

Lightning aimed a punch at Noctis only to have him duck and aim a punch at her abdomen. Lightning stepped to the side and aimed a kick at his side.

Noctis leapt of the way and panted. Lightning stood in front of him, smirking. "Not bad Noctis." Lightning said. Noctis smirked back at her. "Yeah, and I expected much from a soldier, and a sergeant at that." His adopted sister huffed and got into a ready stance once again. Noctis straightened up and prepared himself for Lightning's attacks. The strawberry-blonde narrowed her eyes then ducked. Noctis then landed flat on his back as Lightning performed a sweeping kick.

The dark-haired man groaned. He should have known that Lightning would have pulled something like that when he least expected.

Lightning chuckled and held out a hand to him. "Not bad at all." Noctis smiled at her and grasped her hand. Noctis stood and brushed himself off slowly. "Keep going like this and you'll have a bad back one day." He said. Lightning rolled her eyes and headed back into the house.

Noctis sighed then followed her inside.

* * *

A low hum escaped the back of Squall's throat as Rinoa gently massaged his head while she stroked his dark chestnut hair.

The raven-haired teen lifted a finger and traced her boyfriend's scar. "No matter what you say about this scar, it's what makes you who you are. In fact, it's one of the things I love about you so much." Squall cleared his throat and looked away. "Thank you, I guess." He tried to hide his blushing face from Rinoa's innocent brown orbs, but he knew that she had been aware from the start.

Rinoa giggled. "Oh Squall. You don't have to act so shy; it's okay to feel flustered from time to time." "I don't get flustered." Squall protested. "Oh that right," Rinoa chuckled, "the Mighty Squall Leonhart Farron is the strongest man of all time and nothing, not even a moment of being flustered can defeat him."

Squall sighed when Rinoa spoke in a commercial narrator's voice and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He grumbled. Rinoa laid her head against his shoulder and smiled warmly. "I know. You've always loved that word, have you?" Squall could not resist the urge to smile down at his girlfriend and kiss her forehead. This time, Rinoa was the one to blush. Squall smirked. "You don't have to act shy…it's okay to feel flustered from time to time." Rinoa gaped at him then glared. "Oh you! She playfully slapped his arm and pouted. "You're a real meanie!" "And you are a real drama queen." Squall mumbled back. Rinoa rolled her eyes.

She sighed and stood up from the couch then headed for her room upstairs, still pouting.

Squall chuckled to himself and followed her. Inside Rinoa's room, Squall found her sitting on her bed looking rather distant. "What's wrong?" Rinoa snapped from her daze and glanced at her boyfriend. "Oh nothing. I was just thinking…" "About what?" Squall asked as he moved to sit beside Rinoa on her bed.

"I know that this might sound kind of…okay, _very_ nosey, but aren't you worried about Noctis?" Squall was taken slightly aback at this. "What do you mean?" "You said he had been acting different for a while now. I was just worried that something must have happened to him or Lightning." Rinoa said. Squall sighed. "Ah… Actually I'm more worried about Lightning; she hasn't been as active as she usually is. She never tells us why, not that I'm surprised."

Rinoa giggled. "She's just trying to be strong, especially in front of you guys." Squall looked at her. "How can you know that?" "Call it women's intuition." Rinoa said with a grin. Squall smirked at her.

* * *

"Change it."

"No," was the blunt reply. Lightning scowled hat her adopted brother and flicked him in the forehead. "Change the channel, Noctis." Noctis shook his head and kept the television on the documentary channel. Lightning glared at him, and then while he kept his eyes on the screen, Lightning moved and stole the remote from his hands.

The dark-haired young man looked at her. "That was low, Sergeant." "Says you." Lightning retorted and changed the channel.

Noctis rolled his eyes and leaned back into the back of the couch until he was slouching a bit. Lightning placed the remote on the armrest beside her and kept a hand on it in case Noctis tried the pull the same trick. The two of them sat quietly as they watched the Pulse Wildlife Channel. Noctis yawned and stretched his arms; purposely letting one hit the side of Lightning's head.

Lightning scowled at him and shoved his arm away.

"Watch it, buster!" She warned. Noctis glared back at her and leaned an elbow on her shoulder. Lightning growled. "Get off." Noctis gave her a look. "No." "Move it!" She growled. "Make me." He challenged.

Scoffing, Lightning got up from the couch and then swiftly turned and lunged at Noctis.

He grunted and moved off the couch while Lightning's face smacked into the back of the couch. She pulled away from the furniture and lunged at Noctis again. This time she had him on his back and began tousling his hair roughly. "Get off me, Light!" Noctis yelled. "Make me!" She challenged him.

The rolled around on the floor, wrestling and grappling and yanking at each other.

Noctis reached over his shoulder to grab the back of Lightning's neck. He bent over slightly and tried to slam Lightning to the floor. She quickly let go and Noctis tumbled over. He groaned in exasperation as he stared up at the young soldier's face. "Is fighting all you ever enjoy?" He asked. Lightning shrugged and suddenly sat on the floor beside him. "I guess. It helps me clear my head."

The dark-haired young man shook his head. "You really are something, Lightning."

The soldier smirked and stood up. "I better take a shower. And this time don't get in the bathroom!" "This is our house, Lightning. You have your own bathroom, why would I walk into it?" Noctis said. Lightning ignored him and went upstairs.

Noctis shook his head, turned off the television, and went back up into his own room.

Lightning stretched as she entered her shower; the cool water sprayed down her scarred body. During all her days working for the Guardian Corp sometimes had her ending up with battle-scars by the end of the day, it was a concern her siblings always had with her. She had more scars than any regular twenty-one-year-old should have.

Sometimes Lightning would look at her scars and would recall how she had received them in the first place. Most of them were a result of monster attacks, breaking up gang fights and bar brawls, and sometimes even rescue missions.

To Lightning, her scars were proof of her many victories as a soldier.

She stepped out of the shower and toweled her hair dry. She paused as she caught her reflection on the mirror; her strawberry-blonde hair was wet and her bangs were over her light electrical blue eyes. Her skin was of a creamy complexion with many scars marring her body from her shoulder down to her waist. Lightning clutched her chest and sighed; not all of her scars were insignias of victory.

Shaking herself from her stupor, Lightning wrapped the towel around her body and went into her room.

She dressed herself then noticed something sticking out from under her pillow. It was the photo album. Lightning shrugged to herself and took out from under the pillow and opened the album. She looked at one of the pictures that had her and Noctis in it.

It was taken on the day that Noctis had "officially" become a Farron.

In the picture Noctis was sitting on the couch with his face against his palm with embarrassment as Zack pointed at the celebratory cake to the camera. Serah had taken the picture. Lightning flipped the page found a picture of her and Noctis standing next to each other in a formal manner. While Zack had taken the picture, he had complained that Lightning and Noctis should not act so formally with each other now that they had become family.

Lightning had scoffed at her older brother for that whiel Noctis did his best to ignore her scowls.

The young soldier shook her head at the memory of Noctis becoming her adopted brother; he had been very surprised that these turn of events and was shy during his first day as a Farron sibling. Still, everyone had accepted him into the family including Lightning, though she had never said a word of it.

To Lightning, Noctis had been a good brother and friend to them for the past six years.

He had never been able to remember why or how he had ended up alone on the side of the street under the pouring rain those years ago. His family never bothered to look for him or even make calls. Noctis had been meant to stay with the Farrons until his family came looking for him; but it never happened. Since then, Noctis had been a part of the family to the point where they had unofficially adopted him.

Noctis had been so grateful to them for letting him be part of the family.

To Lightning's own surprise that time, she found that she had rather enjoyed having the dark-haired young man around. It had unsettled her until finally she gave in and accepted him as her brother. He had been like her partner in crime, and she to him whenever the need arose, he had always been the one with enough guts to enter her room when she was in a foul mood just the clean her wounds and bandage her whenever she came home from work with injuries.

Lightning shook her head and shut the photo album.

"This is ridiculous." She grumbled to herself. Lately her mind had been wandering to Noctis and she wondered if it had anything to do with his distant behavior lately. Lightning shook her head and lay down on her bed.

"You're up to something, Noctis. Is it something you can't share with us?" Lightning wondered aloud and then closed her eyes.

* * *

**There you have it!**

**I know this one was waaaayyy too long of a wait but don't worry, no matter how long it takes me; I do not intend to give up on the story. Well anyways, I noticed that this chapter was pretty long, so I hope you all enjoyed reading this one.**

**Thanks for reading my story, oh and a friend of mine, "nicegal1" has created a poster for this fanfic (actuall there are three of them). You should go and see it if you want to at: .com/?order=5&q=Lightning and Noctis#/d2upbxu**

**Also to let you guys know that I am shifting houses so I'm still gonna be real slow with updating but don't worry. I'll still write them.**

**Until Then…**


	9. Chapter IX: The Times Before

**Disclaimer: ****Okay, I know it's been a VERY long time. I apologize to those who wanted to see more of the story. Unfortunately, my USB seemed to have broken down. Which means that I had lost all of my works and works-in-progress. I was already halfway done with this chapter, but now I have to rewrite this all over again. Grr! And not only that, college is really tiring and I really need to concentrate.**

**Oh well, looks like I'll have to rewrite all of the chapters and stories that I had been working on. Sorry. Blame it on my stupid external drive USB. Anyway, I'll have everything rewritten as soon as I can.**

**Summary: ****Family is one of the things that keep us on our feet. But what if family isn't enough? Sooner or later, one must choose**

**ALL FOR ONE**

**Chapter VIII: The Times Before**

Lightning woke up early the next day.

She sighed and rose up from her bed groggily and went into her bathroom for her morning shower. She turned on the cold water of the shower, allowing the cold spray to wake her up. She reached for her shampoo, lathering her hair with the rose-scented gel.  
The cold water washed away the foam from her strawberry-blonde locks. Lightning shook her head, spraying the foam and water droplets from her head. Her sharp ears caught the sound of footsteps from the inside of her room. She sighed.

Lightning washed herself, dried herself, then dressed

She dried her hair with a smaller towel as she went back into her room. Lightning raised an eyebrow. Noctis sat on her bed, looking concerned. "What?" Lightning said suddenly, startling Noctis out of his thoughts.

He shook his head then looked at Lightning. "Sorry." Lightning shrugged and placed her towel aside. "What's wrong?" "I…had a nightmare." Noctis said, blushing a bright red in embarrassment. Lightning stared at him in slight disbelief. "Are you kidding me?"  
Noctis shook his head. "I know it's stupid and childish but…it felt real. Too real." His adopted sister frowned and sat beside him. "What happened?" She asked.

"It was…weird. I really didn't understand it at all." Noctis admitted. Lightning nodded in understanding. "Just tell me. It might actually help."  
He chuckled in embarrassment. "Everything was all foggy though. I kept seeing these places that I know I have never seen or been to before. It was like…a meeting room of some sort, and…I think I saw Tenebrae too. I also kept seeing these foggy faces all around me. But for some reason, I didn't feel scared. But at the same time, it kind of scared me because I know I have never seen those people or places in my dream. Yet it's almost like I know them…somehow."

Lightning's eyes never left Noctis as he spoke. She frowned, deep in thought. "Was that all?" Noctis nodded. "Yeah, that was all."

"It was just a dream, don't worry about it." She reassured, placing a hand on his shoulder. Noctis inhaled the smell of Lightning's rose-scented shampoo. "I know. But it feels as if it meant something." "Then maybe it means that you miss your real family. That would be natural though; anyone who lost their families would always miss them, no matter what." Lightning said.  
Noctis smiled at her. "You're really something, you know that?"

Lightning blushed slightly. "Whatever." Noctis chuckled and ruffled her damp hair. "Thanks for comforting your adopted big brother." Lightning frowned in embarrassment. "Don't sweat it. That's what families do." She mumbled. Noctis only chuckled again and stood up. "I'll start breakfast today. Sorry for bothering you, Light."  
She nodded and watched as he left her room and closed the door behind him. She exhaled loudly and shook her head, ruffling her untamed bangs in confusion. Something was definitely wrong with her.

Deciding was it probably nothing, Lightning rolled her neck and shoulders, unwind the creaks in her body. She smirked to herself, remembering what day it was. The relatives were coming to visit.

"Might as well get the place fixed up." She sighed and went downstairs to the kitchen where Noctis was busy frying the eggs in a pan. Lightning simply made her way beside him and got out a mixing bowl from the cupboard along with the ingredients for pancakes. Noctis blushed when he glanced in her direction as she mixed the pancake batter, and tried concentrating on the eggs.  
Lightning noticed. "What?" "Nothing. Just thought you were going to stay in bed a little longer." Noctis said coolly. Lightning gave him a look then rolled her eyes. "Stop trying to act cool. It won't work on me. I know you." Noctis mentally cursed but kept his cool.

Lightning rolled her eyes again as she got out a second pan onto the stove on poured some of the pancake batter. "You can just let me do the cooking, I don't mind." Noctis said. Lightning only shrugged and did not say a word.

The silence between them was rather comfortable, neither minded each other's presence as they worked in the kitchen.

As they finished with the cooking and began fixing up the table, the sound of yawning and light footsteps could be heard above. The rest of the Farron brothers padded down the stairs. Lightning and Noctis smirked when they saw how Cloud managed to keep his hair completely spiked, despite just getting out of bed. Squall was nothing new since his hair had always been in a handsome mess. Zack on the other hand had a slight case of bed hair. His short spikes were everywhere and fuzzier than usual, making him look a somewhat puffy.

Noctis went over to his seat at the table and Lightning did the same as the rest of her brothers followed.

Zack yawned loudly and nearly tripped on his own feet as he went over to his seat at the table. The younger brothers chuckled and Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Klutz." She muttered. "Not everyone is a morning riser, Miss Early Bird." Zack groaned back. "This coming from the same person who wakes up early _every_ Saturday just to watch his vampire soap operas." Squall said. The party at the table snickered and Zack's jaw dropped while his face went red. "What soap operas? I don't watch soap operas!" "Right…" Lightning said, unbelievingly.

Zack blushed and quickly tucked in the food on the table. They ate in comfortable silence until Zack and Squall both placed their fork on the last egg. The two glared at each other, obviously fighting over the last egg. They clashed their forks while trying to grab the egg, much to the others' amusement. Lightning rolled her eyes. The little struggle over the egg lasted until Squall flicked Zack in the nose harshly and took the egg for himself. Zack growled and glared at his younger brother. Squall paid him no mind and ate the egg.

"Too slow, puppy." Lightning said. "That's not funny!" Zack yelled. Noctis laughed a bit and Cloud shook his head in amusement while Squall and Lightning only shrugged and drank their orange juice.

After breakfast, the brothers volunteered to clean up the dishes while Lightning headed back up into her room. Noctis watched her go then slipped away from his adopted brothers as they began fighting each other with the tap water and dish soap.

Noctis headed upstairs and knocked on Lightning's door. She took quite a while to answer it and Noctis wondered if she had gone back to sleep. Slowly, he opened the door and peeked inside. Lightning was nowhere in sight. She must have gone to the bathroom, he told himself. He then let himself in and looked around her room.

Lightning liked having everything in place and kept her room clean at all times. He smirked when he remembered how she almost threw a fit when Zack messed up her collection of books, which were mostly manuals or war and peace books. He shook his head; same old Lightning.

He then noticed something sticking out from underneath her pillow. He approached the bed and pulled the object out. He smiled softly when he recognized the photo album Serah gave to Lightning before Serah left to live with Snow. Lightning had been very upset at Serah's decision, but in the end, she had to accept it. She disliked Snow so much but she knew she could not keep her little sister from her own happiness.

Noctis knew that Lightning was only trying to learn to let go a bit. Serah being the youngest meant Lightning had to watch over her more than her brothers and Serah going off to live on her own with her boyfriend was hard for Lightning to do since she had always taken care of Serah as best as she could.

It was thanks to Squall and Cloud that Lightning managed to calm down and accept the fact, albeit reluctantly.

He sat on the bed and opened the album to look at the photographs. He smiled at each one. He then came across a picture that had Lightning in between Serah and Vanille who were both clinging to her arms. Noctis chuckled; Lightning was practically the guy in the photo.  
The next picture had him, Squall, and Cloud sitting at a table at their favorite burger joint. The three of them stared at the camera grumpily and lazily as it was taken. By Serah, of course.

The next made Noctis laugh a bit. It was Serah and Snow sitting on a park bench together and leaning against each other affectionately. Lightning was in the background—coincidentally, since she had gone off to get herself and Serah a hotdog and had just returned while the picture had been taken—and was glaring at the back of Snow's head like death itself.

Noctis remembered the huge fit Lightning had after Vanille had snapped the picture. He and Fang had to pull her back and defend Snow's head before Lightning actually threw the hotdogs at him.

He turned to the next page which had pictures of the family along with Fang, Vanille, and even Snow—much to Lightning's dismay at that time—at the beach. Among all of them, Squall, Lightning, and Noctis himself had refused to wear any beach attire had had settled with summer clothes instead. Fang, Serah, and Vanille had tried to pull Lightning over to the water and get her to swim with them. Much to the three's dismay, however, Lightning was as strong as a man and had managed to yank her arm away and shoved Fang into the water then made Vanille trip in and picked Serah up in her arms and tossed her in with the two.

The brothers and Snow had laughed at that and Lightning had been yelled at by a pouting Vanille who had said "You are _such_ a guy!" to Lightning.

The eldest Farron sister merely shrugged and headed back to her shade without another word. After a while, Snow, who had been dig a bit in the sand, had encountered a crab and had gotten himself pinched by it. Lightning was the first to see this and snickered smugly at the scene of Snow waving his hand around in the air when the crab refused to let go of his finger. Serah had rushed over to help him and everyone else laughed.

Noctis was so deep in his memories that he did not notice Lightning standing at the doorway of her bathroom, looking at him.

She saw his soft smile and smiled herself. Noctis was sweet, that much she would admit out loud. He was the best brother she or anyone could have and he became part of the family so quickly that even Lightning herself forgot that he was a stranger that they had taken in.

She must admit, she had grown attached and fond of Noctis after his first two weeks as a Farron. And she was surprisingly glad that she did; he was probably the only one among her brothers who fully understood her like no one else did, and like how only she understood herself. He was always there to comfort her like an ideal older brother would and was always the one to bring the first aid kit to her after she would come home covered in wounds.

He was also a shy boy but would always try to hide it by acting cool. Lightning would always roll her eyes at him when he did that. Men and their pride. But then again, she was like that at times as well. Who was she to judge anyway?

She watched as he flipped through the album, smiling to himself and sometimes laughing. Like her, he liked to actually reminisce the times before. She expected it; after all, he had been found on the streets under the harsh and pouring rain by Zack and did not remember a thing about his family except for his own name.

The Farrons had sent out messages that they had found him and waited for his family to come for him and bring him home. Noctis too had waited to be taken home. But when no one came for him, he had been saddened but at the same time, he had already grown attached to the Farrons, and they had felt the same about him as well.

After that, they took him in as their own brother and everything worked out perfectly. Serah loved having a new brother and the boys enjoyed his company, especially Squall and Cloud who finally had an ideal older brother role model instead of Zack.

And for Lightning, she was glad to have someone who understood her perfectly and did not take her insecurities as insults and saw past her cold façade since he too had a façade on at times. He was probably her only brother, aside from Squall and Cloud who could calm her down when she was close to the boiling point.

Lightning smirked and walked over to Noctis who still did not notice her presence.

He flipped through another page then paused and looked up at Lightning. He blushed and cleared his throat. She shook her head and sat beside him. "I miss those times too." She said suddenly. Noctis nodded in agreement and placed the album between them.

They both looked at the pictures and smiled as they recalled the times they all had before; the good and the bad, as well as the times that could not be caught on camera. Noctis ruffled Lightning's untamed hair and pulled her close so her head rested on his shoulder. She blushed slightly then blinked and moved her eyes back to the pictures in the album.

Noctis always knew exactly when she needed the company or comfort. He was the one she could trust with secrets that even her other siblings would disapprove of or must not know.  
She glanced up at Noctis and smiled a bit; he was wonderfully, inside and out, a good brother and friend. Lightning sighed and she knew she would never want to give him or the rest of her family up for anything in the world.

* * *

**There you go! Ahh! Finally, I think I might be starting to get back on my feet slowly with my stories. The next chapter might take some time again but I assure you I will submit more chapters soon and continue on with this story.**

**Another thing I wanted to say is: HAPPY BITRHDAY, nisu-chan25! I hope you like your birthday present! I did my best here and I hope you like it!**

**Well, that will be all for now. I will get back to you all soon.**

**Until then…**


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